European Metals Holdings (EMH) has appointed SMS group Process Technologies as the lead engineer for minerals processing and lithium battery-grade chemicals production at the Cinovec project in the Czech Republic.

Cinovec, a joint venture between European Metals (49%) and ČEZ Group (51%, through its subsidiary Severočeské doly), is operated by Geomet. The project has recently received investment of around €29 million ($34 million) of funding from EIT InnoEnergy, the principal facilitator and organiser of the European Battery Alliance, for the project, seeing it through to a construction decision.

Under the agreement, SMS group, a leader in plant construction and mechanical engineering for the technology metals and materials sector, will provide a complete front-end engineering design (FEED) study as the major component of the ongoing definitive feasibility study (DFS) work at Cinovec.

Under the agreement, SMS will provide the following to the Cinovec project:

• Full process integration from the point of delivery of ore to the underground crusher through to the delivery of finished battery-grade lithium chemicals for battery and cathode manufacturers;
• The FEED will include all of the process steps – comminution, beneficiation, roasting, leaching and purification;
• The FEED will encompass both the lithium process flowsheet and the tin/tungsten recovery circuit delivering metal concentrates to refineries; and
• The FEED is intended to deliver a binding fixed price lump sum turnkey engineering procurement and construction (EPC) contract with associated process guarantee and product specification guarantees for battery-grade lithium chemicals. The combination of these will greatly assist to underwrite project financing from leading European and global financial institutions lending into this new energy electric vehicle-led industrial revolution, European Metals Holdings says.

The FEED study will commence immediately and SMS group is expected to deliver the EPC contract, as the final component part of the Cinovec DFS, by the end of 2021.

Herbert Weissenbaeck, Senior Vice President for Strategic Project Development at SMS group, said: “Having successfully completed thorough technical due diligence, we believe in the compelling value proposition of Geomet’s Cinovec lithium/tin/tungsten project, which is set to become a cornerstone of the e-mobility driven European battery metals landscape. SMS group is delighted to deploy its second-to-none technology metals and materials production know-how and EPC capabilities into this exciting project.”

EMH Executive Chairman, Keith Coughlan, added: “SMS is the ideal engineering partner for the Cinovec project as it is based in neighbouring Germany with a globally-respected process design capability. The appointment of SMS is the culmination of a negotiation and due diligence process that has lasted over a year.

“EMH, Geomet and ČEZ have all been consistently impressed by SMS group’s capabilities and insights into the development of efficient high recovery plants capable of producing very high quality end-products. Successful delivery of the FEED study will provide a gateway to financing institutions and offtakers of the highest quality. We believe that the intended product and process guarantees will greatly enhance the project finance either directly through commercial lenders or through the recently announced collaborative agreement with EIT InnoEnergy.”

A 2019 prefeasibility study on Cinovec outlined a 1.68 Mt/y operation producing 25,267 t of battery-grade lithium hydroxide over a mine life of 21 years. This came with a capital cost of $482.6 million.