Argosy Minerals Limited advised further progress at the Rincon Lithium Project, located in Salta Province, Argentina, with 98% of the total works completed for the development of the 2,000tpa lithium carbonate production operation, including current commissioning works at 91% completion, during which the Company has produced battery quality 99.76% lithium carbonate product (during single-run process works), as it moves towards commencing lithium carbonate production operations. The Company has continued its commissioning works, which are now in the final stages, and conducted production test-works via batch processing. In addition, preliminary ramp-up phase works have commenced and are progressing toward the integrated continuous production ramp-up phase, which is scheduled for later this quarter. The Company is targeting to complete the full systems ramp-up phase works and achieve steady-state continuous production operations by end of Q2-CY2023. The 2,000tpa production operation major works have comprised three main phases - design, construction and commissioning - with the design and construction phases being effectively completed. The overall commissioning phase works are currently 91% complete, and comprise the following works;
raw materials procurement/acquisition - completed (100%); operations personnel recruitment and development - completed (100%); and plant and equipment commissioning test works - 90% completion. Argosy is well positioned to take advantage of current and near-term lithium prices via the 2,000tpa production operations, with the Benchmark Mineral Intelligence lithium carbonate CIF Asia (spot) price recently quoted at USD 76,000/t.