Rock Tech's Vertically Integrated Preliminary Economic Assessment Confirms Globally Competitive OPEX per tonne of Lithium Hydroxide

2020-11-04 / @thenewswire

(TheNewswire)

Vancouver, BC, Canada – TheNewswire - November 4, 2020 – Rock Tech Lithium Inc. (the "Company" or “Rock Tech”) (TSXV:RCK); (Frankfurt:RJIB) is pleased to announce positive results from an independent Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”) conducted on a vertically integrated lithium hydroxide converter in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

PEA highlights include:

- Globally competitive Operating Expenses (“OPEX”) of US$5,956 per tonne of lithium hydroxide (All-in Sustaining Costs of $6,546 per tonne).

- Base-case scenario production of lithium hydroxide at a rate of 15,000 tonnes per year.

- Excellent potential to improve economics by expanding production capacity.

The PEA demonstrates that a vertically integrated lithium hydroxide converter located in Thunder Bay, Ontario, exclusively utilizing feed from the Company’s nearby 100%-owned Georgia Lake lithium project, can be viable and globally competitive while providing attractive investment returns.

“We are very encouraged by the results of the PEA assessing the economics of a lithium hydroxide converter located in Thunder Bay,” said Simon Bodensteiner, Rock Tech’s Chief Executive Officer. “In addition to the base-case scenario presented in the PEA, we also considered opportunities for increasing the scale of production of the converter. This scenario resulted in greatly enhanced project economics.”

Rock Tech engaged Wave International to complete the PEA, which was prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. The authors of the PEA are Ryan Hanrahan, B.Eng (Hons) Mech (Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101) and Jingyuan Liu, PhD, a subject matter expert in Lithium chemicals. Certain information in the PEA with respect to the Company’s Georgia Lake lithium project was prepared by DMT GmbH & Co. KG (“DMT”) and included in a Technical Report (the “DMT PEA”) filed on SEDAR on November 12, 2018. DMT reviewed the DMT PEA and certified that the assumptions remain current and reliable for the purposes of the PEA assessing a vertically integrated lithium hydroxide converter.

“We are pleased to complete the first-ever PEA on a vertically integrated lithium hydroxide converter in the Province of Ontario,” added Dirk Harbecke, the Company’s chairman. “This study clearly demonstrates and confirms the business case and the positive economic impact on the region. We now look forward to the imminent kick-off of a pre-feasibility study as we advance discussions around site selection, production optimization, community engagement and financing. Our PFS will contemplate a variety of scenarios including expanded converter capacity and a dual-location strategy whereby initial refining is completed in Canada before final purification in Germany.”

About Wave International

Wave International is a resource development consultancy with nearly 20 years of global experience in engineering, project delivery, project management and asset management – providing project strategies and solutions in the battery minerals sector for more than a decade. Wave and its key personnel have delivered upstream and downstream projects from resource definition through study, design, commissioning, delivery, ramp up and operations.

The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Ryan Hanrahan, B.Eng (Hons) Mech, CPEng / NPER, a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

"Simon Bodensteiner"
Simon Bodensteiner
Director, Chief Executive Officer

For further information, please contact:

Brad Barnett
Chief Financial Officer
Rock Tech Lithium Inc.
777 Hornby Street, Suite 600
Vancouver, B.C., V6Z 1S4
Telephone: (778) 358-5200
Facsimile: (604) 670-0033
Email: bbarnett@rocktechlithium.com

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Statements included in this announcement, including statements concerning our plans, intentions and expectations, which are not historical in nature are intended to be, and are hereby identified as, "forward‐looking statements". Forward‐looking statements may be identified by words including "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "expects" and similar expressions. The Company cautions readers that forward‐looking statements, including without limitation those relating to the Company's future operations and business prospects, are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward‐looking statements.