AIM-listed mining and exploration company, Premier African Minerals Limited, has announced a decisive move to stabilise and enhance operations at its flagship Zulu Lithium and Tantalum Project in Fort Rixon, Zimbabwe. The company revealed plans to acquire and install a secondary flotation plant as part of its ongoing operational optimisation strategy.
The decision follows an extensive engineering audit currently underway at the Zulu site. The audit focuses on evaluating pumping efficiency, water and mass balance, and overall plant performance. According to Premier, the on-site assessment phase has been completed, and a high-level interim report is expected within days, followed by a comprehensive engineering report in the coming week.
The audit findings — along with ongoing commercial discussions with Premier’s offtake and prepayment partner, Canmax Technologies — will play a pivotal role in determining whether the current flotation plant can achieve sustainable commercial production at the desired grade and tonnage levels in the short term.
While the company remains optimistic that the existing plant could eventually reach design capacity, Premier acknowledged that financial limitations have prompted immediate action. To maintain operational momentum, the company will acquire, install, and commission a 15–20 tonnes-per-hour (TPH) flotation plant, manufactured by Xinhai Technology Processing EPC, currently based in Harare.
The new secondary flotation plant uses a proven metallurgical recovery process similar to those successfully implemented at other Zimbabwean mining operations processing comparable ore types. Once operational, the new unit is expected to complement the existing flotation plant, increasing total design capacity and improving overall process stability and efficiency.
Premier’s Managing Director, Graham Hill, emphasised that the engineering audit has been instrumental in identifying and correcting imbalances within the current processing circuit.
“My conviction has always been that, to achieve stable and consistent operations, every part of the plant must be balanced in terms of mass and water flows,” Hill explained.
“The audit team has provided valuable engineering recommendations, and with recent modifications, we remain optimistic that the current plant can reach pre-production readiness. The secondary flotation plant will reinforce these efforts and give us the best opportunity to achieve consistent commercial output.”
Hill added that the decision to proceed with the secondary flotation plant followed detailed technical evaluations and negotiations in October, aimed at securing a clear, immediate path to reliable production.
The installation marks a significant milestone in Premier African Minerals’ broader goal to optimise performance and position the Zulu Project as one of Zimbabwe’s most promising lithium and tantalum assets, contributing to the country’s growing role in the global battery minerals market.
By Tino Sungie