Lepidico (ASX:LPD) Namibia drill results

Lepidico (ASX:LPD) Managing Director, Joe Walsh provides an update on drill results from its recently acquired Rubicon and Helikon deposits in Namibia, L-Max Pilot Plant trial results and outlook.

Ortenzia Borre: Hello. I'm Ortenzia Borre for the Finance News Network. Joining me today is Lepidico(ASX:LPD) managing director Joe Walsh. Joe, welcome to Sydney.

Joe Walsh: Thank you very much.

Ortenzia Borre: Lepidico(ASX:LPD) recently released its results from its Rubicon and Helikon One deposits in Namibia. Can you tell me more about the results starting with drilling?

Joe Walsh: So we completed an aggressive drill program about a month ago and we're now in the process of bringing those results into our first mineral resource estimate on the deposit and we expect to bring it into measured and indicated categories. The results thus far have indicated that we've got good high grades near surface and we expect will support the tonnage that we're looking for to support a 10 to 15-year project life.

Ortenzia Borre: Thanks Joe. Can you tell us about your L-Max pilot plant results?

Joe Walsh: So the pilot plant was run earlier this year. We completed those trials in August and we've progressively been getting results through from that. The results have really supported all of the work that we've done over the years up to this point and endorsed the process chemistry. We've also produced extremely high purity lithium carbonate from the material that we got there, grading 99.95 per cent lithium carbonate. We're now doing our first trials for production of lithium hydroxide and we expect to get the results of those in December of this year.

Ortenzia Borre: Now still on the pilot plant, over the last quarter you received US patent protection. Can you tell me what this would mean for shareholders?

Joe Walsh: It really is an endorsement of the technology. We filed the initial provisional patent application some four years ago now. It is a protracted process, but this really does verify that our process is novel and inventive and we expect that patent protection will be forthcoming in the other jurisdictions in which we've applied for it, the European bloc, a number of Asian countries and US and Canada over the course of probably the next six to 12 months.

Ortenzia Borre: Now to your feasibility study, when do you expect to get the results and where do you see Lepidico(ASX:LPD)?

Joe Walsh: So the results from the feasibility study will be coming out in March 2020. We expect that we will be well positioned on the cost curve and competitive relative to our peers. The study will be integrating both the mine and the concentrator in Namibia with our chemical plant, which we plan to build in Abu Dhabi. So it will be the first time that we will have pulled together a full set of results for that vertically integrated business.

Ortenzia Borre: Last question, Joe. What's going to move the share price higher over the next quarter and beyond?

Joe Walsh: So we're really going to be delivering on our stated strategy. Over the course of the next three to six months we should be having a raft of results coming out with the next mineral resource estimate, then our first all-reserve estimates, the results of the feasibility study. In parallel with that we're also doing a lot of R and D test work, and we expect to be having more information coming out with regard to some of our potential products such as caesium and rubidium, which we see as a potential huge value add for us.

Ortenzia Borre: Thank you so much for the update, Joe. We really appreciate it and we look forward to seeing you again soon.

Joe Walsh: Thank you very much.

Source: Finance News Network