Post by
Mookster3 on Jun 12, 2022 8:06am
What’s going on at Tanko?
Tanko Mines has an option to purchase Donner pegmatite ore (concentrate?) at commercial rates, however current operations at Tanko are a bit of a mystery because it’s a private company. Tanko’s Bernic Lake pegmatite originally had reserves of 57 mmt grading 0.74 % LiO, 366 ppm Ta2O5, plus Cs (Canadian Mineralogist, Vol. 44, pp 599-623). However, the Tanko mine has been in operation since 1967, so it’s unclear how much ore is left. Lithium concentrate was produced from 1986-2009, at which point the Li circuit was shut down in favour of cesium production. Now the lithium circuit has been reinstated (apparently). Lithium pricing has obviously impacted mine output as follows; The price for lithium carbonate was stable at US$5,000-6,000/t during 2010-2015, spiked to US$ 17,000/t in 2018, when construction of the Wabouchi mine in Quebec started, crashed to $8,000/t in 2020, when the Wabouchi mine went bankrupt, and has now spiked again to US $47,000/t. Obviously, lithium pricing has, and will continue to have, a major impact on the operation of the Tanko mine, and no doubt they are currently re-evaluating all options to take advantage of these recent crazy high lithium prices. Perhaps Grid management will provide an update on Grid’s relationship with Tanko, during the Thursday webinar.
The Mookster