Leo Lithium has finalised the award of the Mining Services contract at the Goulamina Lithium Project in Mali.
Corica Mali, a subsidiary of Corica Mining Services, has been awarded the contract, which is valued at approximately $US348 million.
The contract encompasses six months of pre-production activities at Goulamina followed by a fixed five-year term.
The contract was awarded following the completion of a competitive tender process and extensive due diligence, based on safety, experience, capability, equipment availability and cost.
The scope of the contract comprises grade control, drill and blast, load and haul, and plant ore feed services for Leo Lithium. The planned material movement target is between 18 million to 20 Mtpa 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. Corica is currently providing large-scale mining services to several 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, commented:
“We are delighted to appoint Corica as our mining services contractor following an intensive tender process. 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.”
