Cypress Development Announces Positive Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) for Clayton Valley Lithium Project, Nevada
Suite 1610 - 777 Dunsmuir Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V7Y 1K4
www.cypressdevelopmentcorp.com
TSX Venture Exchange Symbol: CYP
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: (604) 687-3376
Facsimile: (604) 687-3119
NEWS RELEASE
September 6, 2018
Cypress Development Announces Positive Preliminary Economic Assessment
(PEA) for Clayton Valley Lithium Project, Nevada
Vancouver, BC - Cypress Development Corp. (TSX-V: CYP) (OTCQB: CYDVF)
(Frankfurt: C1Z1) (“Cypress” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce positive
results from a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) of the Company’s Clayton
Valley Lithium Project in Nevada, U.S.A. The PEA was prepared by Global Resource
Engineering (GRE) of Denver, Colorado , an independent engineering services firm
with extensive experience in mining and mineral processing . All dollar values are in
US dollars.
Highlights:
Net present value of $1.45 billion at 8% discount rate and 32.7% internal rate
of return on after-tax cash flow.
Lithium carbonate price of $13,000 per tonne based on Benchmark Research
market study.
Average annual production rate of 24,042 tonnes of lithium carbonate over
40-year life.
Capital cost estimate of $4 82 million, pre-production and o perating cost
estimate averaging $3,983 per tonne of lithium carbonate.
Updated Resources from May 1, 2018 estimate:
o Indicated Resource of 831 million tonnes at 8 67 ppm Li, or 3. 835
million tonnes lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE).
o Inferred Resource of 1.12 billion tonnes at 860 ppm Li, or 5.126
million tonnes LCE.
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Cypress CEO Dr. Bill Willoughby commented "This is a nother important milestone
for the project and Cypress. The PEA outlines the steps necessary for a mine and
mill at Clayton Valley, including a sulfuric acid plant which is the main driver in the
costs. GRE uses a conventional approach in processing and developed a production
schedule that utilizes only a small fraction of the total reso urces on the property. The
end result is a project that has strong economics and the potential to generate
significant cash flow.”
PEA Summary
After tax cash flow analysis (US Dollars)
Internal rate of return (IRR) 32.7%
Net present value (NPV-8%) $1.45 billion
Cumulative cash flow, undiscounted $6.171 billion
Payback period 2.7 years
Operating rate 15,000 tpd for 40 years
Capital cost estimate $482 million over 2 years
Net lithium recovery 81.5%
Base case price for lithium carbonate $13,000/tonne
Average production lithium carbonate 24,042 tonnes
Operating cost for lithium carbonate $3,983/tonne
Sensitivity of Base Case to Lithium Price
Price for lithium carbonate NPV-8%
($ Million) IRR
$4,800/tonne - break-even --- 0
$8,000/tonne (-38%) 433 16.4
$10,500/tonne (-19%) 947 25.0
$13,000/tonne – base-case 1,454 32.7
$15,500/tonne (+19%) 1,960 40.0
$18,000/tonne (+38%) 2,467 46.8
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Resources:
The PEA includes an updated Mineral Resource Estimate, which followed upon
changes in the resou rce model and property boundaries since the May 1, 2018
Resource Estimate. For the PEA, GRE created an ultimate pit shell for the property -
wide resources, and an initial pit shell that focused on the higher -grade clay units in
the eastern part of the prope rty. Estimation methods follow those in the previous
report.
Resources – Property-Wide Pit Shell
Cut-off
grade
Li ppm
Indicated Inferred
Tonnes
(million)
Li
ppm
Tonnes
LCE
(million)
Tonnes
(million)
Li
ppm
Tonnes
LCE
(million)
300 831.0 867 3.834 1,120.3 860 5.125
600 768.5 892 3.649 1,022.2 888 4.831
900 319.7 1,091 1.857 430.3 1,082 2.478
Resources- Initial Pit Shell
Cut-off
grade
Li ppm
Indicated Inferred
Tonnes
(million)
Li
ppm
Tonnes
LCE
(million)
Tonnes
(million)
Li
ppm
Tonnes
LCE
(million)
300 365.3 942 1.832 160.5 992 0.847
600 361.3 946 1.820 158.5 997 0.841
900 198.0 1,105 1.164 106.8 1,119 0.626
CIM definitions were followed for Mineral Resources.
The mineral resources are reported using a cut -off grade of 300 ppm Li and are
constrained to a pit shell reflecting a $1 7.50/tonne operating cost, $ 13,000/tonne of
LCE price, and 81.5% net recovery to LCE. Both property-wide and initial pit shells
use a 30-degree pit slope.
Mining and production schedule:
A 15,000 tonne per day n ominal production rate was selected based upon the
projected output for the operation, with the goal of producing 20,000 tonnes per year
of lithium carbonate. The nominal production rate equates to 5.475 million tonnes per
year of mill feed at an average g rade of 1,012 ppm Li. Further improvement in the
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production schedule is possible given the resources in the initial pit alone far exceed
the 219 million tonnes of production needed to support a 40-year mine life.
GRE evaluated four options for mine equip ment and mill feed transportation and
selected an in-pit feeder-breaker with slurry pumping for the base case. No drilling or
blasting is required, and the only major piece of mobile equipment is a front -end
loader to fee d the in -pit feeder -breaker. Waste mining is minimal, amounting to a
total of 6 million tonnes over the 40-year mine life.
Processing:
The plant design by GRE includes agitated tank leaching, and a multi-stage thermal-
mechanical evaporation system for concentrating leach solution . Slurried feed is
transported to the mill where l ithium extraction is achieved through leaching at
elevated temperatures with dilute sulfuric acid. The sulfuric acid concentration is
targeted at 5%, with the addition of concentrated acid delivered from the on-site acid
plant.
The estimated acid plant capacity is 2,000 tonnes per day of sulfuric acid , generated
from the combustion of elemental sulfur trucked to the site in the molten state. The
acid plant has the potential to produce up to 25 MW of electricity, bu t at additional
capital expense. For this study, only enough electricity will be generated to run the
acid plant . Steam from the plant will be used for heating in the leaching and
evaporation stages of processing.
Leaching will take place in a primary leach vessel followed by a series of thickeners.
Retention time in the leach circuit is estimated at 4 to 6 hours with acid consumption
estimated at 125 kg per tonne of feed. Overflow from the final leach thickener is
pumped to a primary impurity removal circ uit where calcium hydroxide is added to
precipitate iron and aluminum, and the thickened underflow filtered and conveyed to
a dry -stack tailings facility. The p urified solution is reduced in volume via a multi-
stage thermal-mechanical evaporation system where evaporate is collected and
recycled as process water , and the condensate is treated by stage -wise addition of
sodium hydroxide and soda ash to precipitate calcium, manganese and magnesium
before advancing to final product production. Precipitation of the final product occurs
with the addition of soda ash , producing a lithium carbonate product targeted at
99.5% purity. Net recovery of lithium throughout processing is estimated at 81.5%.
Process water for the operation will be obtained by recycling barren leach solution
after treating in a reverse osmosis plant, and by introducing fresh make -up water,
estimated at 345 m3/hour and delivered via pipeline from a well field located off-site.
Capital Costs:
The total initial capital cost estimate is $482 million distributed over two years of pre-
production. An overall factor of 2.86 on equipment costs is used to allow for the
necessary installation labor, construction materials, spares , first fill, buildings, and
engineering and construction management. Infrastructure and G&A capital includes
allowances for feasibility study, permitting, bonding, off-site electrical, and acquisition
of process water.
Capital Cost (USD Millions)
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Mine development and equipment 35
Plant feed prep, leaching, purification and lithium recovery 163
Acid plant 105
Tailings 25
Site utilities 17
Infrastructure and G&A capital 38
Direct Capital Costs 383
Working capital 24
Contingency (20% of Direct Costs) 76
Indirect Capital Costs 99
TOTAL CAPEX 482
Operating Cost Estimate:
Estimated operating costs are $17.50 per tonne of mill feed, or $96 million per year,
including 10% contingency. Acid plant operations are the major component in the
operating costs and account for more than half of the total. Project labor is estimated
at 136 on-site employees. Connected power is estimated at 12 MW, with a n all-in
cost of $0.066 per KWH.
Operating Cost $ per tonne
of mill feed
$ per tonne
of LCE
Mining 1.73 395
Plant labor 1.45 330
Reagents & supplies 12.70 2,893
Power 0.94 210
G & A 0.68 155
TOTAL OPEX 17.50 3,983
Project Advancement:
GRE recommends further work , including bench scale testing , to demonstrate the
recovery of lithium product. Cypress intends to proceed with this recommendation as
soon as possible, beginning with the collection of representative sample material with
respect to the production schedule. The Company will continue to work on permitting
and other areas to advance the project.
Global Resource Engineering of Denver, Colorado, prepared the Technical R eport
which carries an Effective Date of September 5 , 2018. Terre A. Lane, J. Todd
Harvey, Hamid Samari, and J. J. Brown of GRE , and Todd Fayram of Continental
Metallurgical Services are the Qualified Persons for the report.
The PEA is preliminary in natu re and includes inferred mineral resources that are
considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied
to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves, and there is
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no certainty that the PEA will be realized. Mineral resources are not mineral reserves
and do not have demonstrated economic viability.
The NI 43 -101 technical report detailing the PEA will be filed on SEDAR within 45
days.
The information contained in this news release relating to the PE A has been
reviewed and approved by Terre Lane of GRE, who is a "Qualified Person" as the
term is defined in National Instrument 43 -101 and is independent of Cypress. GRE
has reviewed and approved the presentation of the PEA information in this news
release.
About Cypress Development Corp.:
Cypress Development Corp. is a publicly traded exploration company focused on
developing the Company's 100% -held Clayton Valley Lithium Project, located
immediately east of Albemarle's Silver Peak mine, North America' s only lithium brine
operation. Recent exploration by Cypress has discovered an extensive deposit of
lithium-bearing claystone adjacent to the brine field.
Cypress Development Corp. has approx. 62.0 million shares issued and outstanding.
To find out more about Cypress Development Corp. (TSX-V: CYP), visit our website
at www.cypressdevelopmentcorp.com.
CYPRESS DEVELOPMENT CORP.
“Dr. Bill Willoughby”
WILLIAM WILLOUGHBY, PhD., PE
Chief Executive Officer
For further information contact myself or:
Don Myers
Cypress Development Corp.
Director, Corporate Communications
Telephone: 604-639-3851
Toll Free: 800-567-8181
Facsimile: 604-687-3119
Email: [email protected]
NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES
PROVIDER ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THE
CONTENT OF THIS NEWS RELEASE.
This release includes certain statements that may be deemed to be "forward -looking
statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that
address events or developments that management of the Company expects, a re forward -
looking statements. Although management believes the expectations expressed in such
forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not
guarantees of future performance, and actual results or developments may differ materially
from those in the forward -looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to
update these forward -looking statements if management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or
other factors, should change. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from
those in forward -looking statements, include market prices, exploration and development
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successes, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or
business conditions. Please see the publi c filings of the Company at www.sedar.com for
further information.