Leo Lithium Limited has finalised the award of its mining services contract for the Goulamina lithium project in Mali in a deal worth US$348 million.
The Corica Mining Services subsidiary’s contract encompasses six months of pre-production activities at Goulamina followed by a fixed five-year term. The contract was awarded following a competitive tender process and extensive due diligence that examined safety, experience, capability, equipment availability and cost.
The scope of the contract includes grade control, drill and blast, load and haul and plant ore feed services. The planned material movement target is between 18 million to 20 million tonnes annually over the term.
Corica have already mobilised to site under an early works contract and are currently undertaking the pre-strip and direct shipped ore (DSO) mining and crushing services.
“Corica has a successful track record operating in the West African region for over 20 years and has over 2,000 employees,” Leo officials said. “It is currently providing large-scale mining services to a number of leading ASX- and TSX-listed mining companies across seven mining operations in Mali and neighbouring countries of Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso.”
Leo Lithium managing director Simon Hay added: “Corica has a long history and strong presence in Mali and will bring substantial local employment and supplier opportunities to the region. With the mining contractor now in place, Leo Lithium has taken another major step towards realising its target of first spodumene concentrate production in H1 2024. We look forward to working with Corica over the long term, commencing with DSO activities this quarter.”
Source: leolithium.com