Logistics Study for Birimian Ltd - Lithium
Birimian is in the process of having gone through a scoping study and now progressing into a Pre-feasibility study for their Goulamina Lithium Resource expansion project, in Mali West Africa. The study is due for completion in September 2017.
In the last quarter of 2016 Ridgehill Resources was engaged by Birimian Ltd to manage and provide input into a Logistics study. As Mali is land locked, and has little to no infrastructure, Ridgehill Resources in conjunction with Bollore' Logistics, investigated the various options available to Birimian, in moving the final Lithium Spodumene to Port. The logistics study concluded that a combination of trucking and rail haulage at this time would be the best most economical option moving forward.
In addition the study highlighted that there was a rail line between Bamako,Mali and Dakar,Senegal to the west,. This rail line is currently in a state of disrepair, however the Senegalese and Malian Governments have entered into an agreement with the Chinese Railway Company to upgrade the rail line between these two cities, within the next two years. However, this information has not as yet been confirmed. This rail link when completed will be the obvious and most economical route to transport Birimian's product to Port.
In addition Ridgehill Resources were engaged to deliver a high level power generation paper, exploring the possibilities of Birimian securing reliable grid power to provide for the running of the lithium processing plant. The study found, from various government and World bank sources, that Mali incurs approximately 56 days of interruption to its power grid ,as they load shed across various areas during these times. Other issues confirmed that the Government cannot afford to maintain the existing power infrastructure, which in itself becomes problematic for power users, and in Birimian's case will affect of production losses and subsequent losses in revenue. The paper concluded that Birimian should connect to the Hydro-electric grid some 15 kilometres away for it's every day power supply, and install a back up power generating station on site to compensate, when the Hydro electric power supply is interrupted. The cost per Kilowatt hour for both systems needs to be revisited in the next phase of study.