Plymouth to offload potash play to focus on lithium.
Plymouth Mineral’s rapid progress at the giant San Jose lithium-tin project in Spain has prompted a senior appointment to handle lithium off-take deals and a change of company name to Infinity Lithium Corporation.
The emerging lithium developer, who recently raised $6.5 million on the strength of the San Jose project, told the ASX this week it had appointed Ryan Parkin as General Manager Corporate Development to lead lithium off-take negotiations and attract strategic investment partners.
Parkin is a chartered accountant with extensive experience in corporate development and finance roles in Europe and Australia, including four years with an ASX 200 company.
The San Jose project has moved rapidly towards development over the past six months thanks to a string of good news surrounding the deposit.
In December, Plymouth announced a new resource estimate showing a 21% increase in tonnes without any resultant loss in grade and a 140% increase in tonnes in the indicated resource category.
The combined indicated and inferred resource for the San Jose lithium mica deposit now stands at 112 million tonnes grading 0.61% Lithium dioxide at a 0.10% cut-off grade. The resource contains an equivalent of more than 1.6 million tonnes of Lithium carbonate equivalent, ranking it as one of the largest deposits in Europe.
Interestingly, Plymouth are planning to not only mine the deposit but to also turn it straight into battery grade lithium carbonate on-site which gives it a unique flavour in the lithium space.
Plymouth outlined in a scoping study in October the potential for impressive returns using a proven processing technology to convert the lithium mica resource all the way through to battery-grade lithium carbonate.
Plymouth Managing Director, Adrian Byass, said Ryan’s appointment was an important addition to the executive team as the company embarked on the next stage of its expansion.
He said, “With the delivery of a robust economic study on San Jose late in 2017, it is time to harness specific skills to drive San Jose forward.”
The company also announced Christian Cordier had resigned as a non-executive director. Cordier joined the board as part of the acquisition of potash assets in 2016.
The change in company name, to be put to a shareholder vote on the 28th of February, reflects the rapid rise in stature of San Jose. Plymouth is determined to build its future around the project and is clearing the decks by beginning a sale process for its high-quality potash assets in Gabon.
The San Jose project is an equal joint venture partner between Plymouth and Valoriza Minerals, the mining arm of giant Spanish construction and engineering company, Sacyr. Plymouth can lift its stake to 75% by completing a feasibility study, which is targeted for the end of this year.