We have awarded the vertically integrated wet plant Structural, Mechanical, Piping (SMP) and Electrical and Instrumentation (E&I) contract to Monadelphous. Together, the value of the contract is approximately A$100 million over nine months. Awarding the final construction contract is a significant milestone for the Kathleen Valley Lithium Project.

Combining the SMP and E&I work enables vertical integration of mechanical and electrical construction of the wet plant, providing efficiencies and underpinning confidence in the schedule to first production in mid-2024.

The contract scope includes installation of 1,200 tonnes of structural steel, 20,000m of piping, 600 mechanical equipment items, 200 platework items, the SAG mill, magnetics circuit, flotation circuit, tantalum recovery circuit, concentrate dewatering, and tails treatment.

By deploying lessons learned from industry peers the wet plant has been designed to a high specification with quality and hard-wearing materials, including polyurethane-lined steel piping and ceramic lined high-wear areas, designed to reduce future maintenance requirements. In addition, the adoption of the lessons learned will be applied during the commissioning and ramp up of the plant.

The extensive tender and evaluation process reflects the importance of these critical path contracts to delivering first production.

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