Australia
Core Lithium confident Finniss Project well-placed to cater for post-COVID demand for lithium
Core Lithium Ltd (ASX:CXO) has progressed development of the Finniss Lithium Project during 2020 as it prepares to cater for an expected surge in demand for lithium in the post-COVID economy.
During FY20, the company received a non-binding indicative term sheet with the Local Jobs Fund (LJF) from the Northern Territory Government for a $5 million concessional Finance Facility to help fund development of the project.
With project approvals now in place and the mine management plan approved by the Northern Territory Government, the next steps are to finalise the definitive feasibility study (DFS) and project financing.
Offtake agreements secured[hhmc]
During the past six months, the company has signed offtake agreements with its first European Offtake MOU with Geneva-based Transamine for 50,000 tonnes per annum and an MOU for 20,000-30,000 tonnes per annum with Xinfeng, which are in addition to a binding offtake for 75,000 tonnes per annum with Sichuan Yahua.
Core chairman Greg Engli..

Core Lithium Ltd (ASX:CXO) has progressed development of the Finniss Lithium Project during 2020 as it prepares to cater for an expected surge in demand for lithium in the post-COVID economy.
During FY20, the company received a non-binding indicative term sheet with the Local Jobs Fund (LJF) from the Northern Territory Government for a $5 million concessional Finance Facility to help fund development of the project.
With project approvals now in place and the mine management plan approved by the Northern Territory Government, the next steps are to finalise the definitive feasibility study (DFS) and project financing.
Offtake agreements secured
During the past six months, the company has signed offtake agreements with its first European Offtake MOU with Geneva-based Transamine for 50,000 tonnes per annum and an MOU for 20,000-30,000 tonnes per annum with Xinfeng, which are in addition to a binding offtake for 75,000 tonnes per annum with Sichuan Yahua.
Core chairman Greg English said: “The three offtake agreements collectively represent approximately 85% of our first three years of annual spodumene production from the Finniss Lithium Project.
“We aim to convert the Xinfeng and Transamine agreements to legally binding offtake agreements with the possibility of project finance.”
World map of Darwin port relative to existing and potential offtake partners.
DFS pending
The company has delivered successive resource upgrades, increasing the Finniss ore resources by more than 50%, ore reserves by in excess of 150% and extended the mine life to seven years.
English said: “Over the past two years, we have completed several technical studies to support the development of the Finniss Lithium Project and to integrate new and expanded mining operations at BP33 and Carlton.
“The inclusion of underground mining at BP33 and Carlton improves the overall economics of the Finniss Lithium project and allows Core to extend the mine life to seven years.”
Test-work to date has confirmed that the project could produce a 6.0% Li2O concentrate at an overall lithium recovery of 71% (6.3 millimetre crush size).
The company is in the process of completing a DFS for the more extensive operation and this is expected to enhance the prospects of the project.
Exploration ongoing
While the company did not experience any material disruption, COVID-19 restrictions hindered its short-term ability to explore the project and other Northern Territory tenements.
However, recent government changes have seen the company recommence fieldwork and exploration activities.
English said: “Our recent exploration activity has been focused on the Finniss Lithium Project, and this work has led to significant discoveries at BP33, Carlton, Sandras and Hang Gong.
“Regional exploration was limited to our newly acquired Adelaide River Gold Project where we have undertaken some reconnaissance rock chip and associated low impact exploration activities.
“While we remain focused on developing the Finniss Lithium Project, we believe that our Adelaide River project, Napperby uranium and Blueys silver project hold considerable value and will look for opportunities to realise value from these projects.”
Spodumene price outlook
English noted that the COVID-19 pandemic had led to adverse economic conditions and a general worldwide economic downturn which had caused softer market conditions in China and weaker customer demand for lithium raw materials.
This not only impacts spodumene prices but prices across the entire lithium raw materials and chemicals product suite.
He said: “Many market analysts expect spodumene prices to recover soon as the demand increases for lithium-ion batteries and green energy products.
“Current modelling shows that the Finniss Lithium Project offers attractive returns for shareholders with the scope and economic potential of this operation will take more precise shape as we complete the DFS.”
Benchmark Mineral intelligence Q2 2020 forecast.Read More – Source
Australia
Australia election: Why is Australia’s parliament so white?

Australia
Scott Morrison effectively ditches his promise to establish a federal anti-corruption commission

Scott Morrison has effectively abandoned his promise to establish a federal anti-corruption watchdog, confirming he would only proceed with legislation in the new parliament if Labor agreed to pass the Coalition’s heavily criticised proposal without amendments.
Morrison pledged before the 2019 election to legislate a federal integrity body in the parliamentary term that has just ended. The prime minister broke that promise, failing to introduce his own proposal before the 46th parliament was prorogued.
On the hustings on Wednesday, Morrison was asked – given his previous undertaking to create the body – whether he would promise to put his proposal to a vote in the next parliament in the event the Coalition won the 21 May election.
Morrison declined to make that promise. “Our position on this hasn’t changed,” the prime minister said. “Our view has been the same – when the Labor party is prepared to support that legislation in that form, then we will proceed with it.”
The prime minister has attempted to inoculate himself from criticism about breaking an election promise by saying he tabled the integrity commission proposal in the parliament.
Tabling an exposure draft, which is what the prime minister did, is not the same as introducing finished legislation to the House of Representatives or the Senate that is then debated and voted on.
As well as repeatedly fudging what happened in parliament, Morrison has also created the impression the proposal can only proceed if Labor agrees to its passage without amendments.
All governments routinely introduce legislation for debate without any undertaking that it will be passed by the opposition. Labor favours a stronger model than the Coalition’s proposal.
Morrison’s lack of urgency on the issue created tensions within government ranks. Late last year, the Tasmanian Liberal MP Bridget Archer crossed the floor to support independent MP Helen Haines’ bill to establish a federal integrity commission. Archer accused the government of “inertia” over the issue.
At that time, Archer said she was “perplexed” at her own government’s failure to release a revised bill almost three years after it was promised before the last election.
While Morrison clearly wants to move on from the issue, he will face renewed pressure from crossbench independents if the coming election is close enough to deliver a hung parliament.
A number of independents running against Liberals in metropolitan seats have made it clear that establishing a credible national integrity commission will be a key demand in the event any new government – Liberal or Labor – is seeking agreements for confidence and supply.
Haines blasted Morrison’s comments on Wednesday. “Mr Morrison broke an election promise to introduce an anti-corruption commission and his pathway to creating one is still as vague as it was in the last parliament,” she said.
The crossbench independent said it was “nonsense” for the prime minister to claim that he could not proceed unless Labor agreed with the Coalition’s proposal without seeking any amendments. “It would appear we are in the same void as we were before,” Haines said.
Australia
Chinese healer Hong Chi Xiao has manslaughter charge overturned and will face new trial

A western Sydney “slapping therapy” practitioner who was found guilty of the manslaughter of a six-year-old diabetic boy and sentenced to 10 years in prison has had his conviction overturned and will face another trial.
Hong Chi Xiao appeared in Sydney’s Court of Criminal Appeal on Wednesday.
Mr Xiao was extradited from London to Sydney in 2017 to face charges more than two years after the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, died following a series of workshops held in Hurstville in April 2015.
The boy’s parents attended the conference where the self-proclaimed Chinese healer showed a “disdain for Western medicine”.
Mr Xiao allegedly advised the parents to stop their son’s insulin injections and blood glucose tests.
A Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) investigation found that Mr Xiao told the boy’s parents that slapping therapy “could heal all diseases, including diabetes, and that no medication was required because insulin could be generated” through the treatment.
He also allegedly recommended the six-year-old boy stop eating for three days and only drink water or a “ginger date drink”.
Slapping therapy, also known as paida lajin, advocates the slapping of skin to release toxins from patients.
The boy became visibly ill over several days and began vomiting a black substance, but Mr Xiao allegedly told the boy’s mother that his body was adjusting to the “self-healing process”.
He began having seizures and was rushed to St George Hospital, where he died.
The NSW Coroner found the treatment directly caused the boy’s death on April 27, 2015.
A District Court jury found Mr Xiao guilty of manslaughter for breaching the duty of care he owed the six-year-old boy through gross negligence.
He was handed a sentence of 10 years with a non-parole period of 7½ years in December 2019.
District Court Judge Garry Neilson said Mr Xiao showed “no signs of true remorse”.
Mr Xiao launched an appeal against his conviction, claiming inconsistencies in the evidence and that Judge Neilson told the jury that there was “no defence” during the trial.
Tim Game SC told the court that Judge Neilson did not summarise the defence case and did not give enough evidence to the jury to make a sound decision.
After a short adjournment, Justice Derek Price, Justice Ian Harrison and Justice Mark Ierace granted the appeal and quashed Mr Xiao’s conviction.
However, he will have to face a fresh trial in front of a new jury.
Mr Xiao will face the Sydney District Court on March 11 for mention.
He has been permanently banned from practising medicine by the HCCC.
The boy’s mother, father and grandmother were also initially charged over his death, but they were found not guilty and acquitted.
Mr Xiao has been in prison since his arrest in 2017 but has long rejected criticism that his techniques endanger lives.
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