PREMIER African Minerals Limited (Premier) has concluded a procurement, installation and commissioning contract with Xinhai Technology Processing (XTP) subsidiary Thriving Engineering Private Limited to install a spodumene flotation plant at its Zulu lithium and tantalum project in Zimbabwe.
XTP is a Chinese-based entity that is part of the wider Xinhai Mining Group (Xinhai), an international leader in mineral processing solutions also headquartered in China.
Xinhai is not new to Zimbabwe’s mining landscape, as Xinhai Mining Services (XMS) recently signed a binding strategic investment with British miner Ariana Resources (Ariana) to advance its Dokwe gold project.
Technical services agreements between Ariana and XMS are now being finalised to fast-track feasibility work and production at the Dokwe gold project.
“Premier African Minerals Limited (Premier or the company) is pleased to announce that Zulu Lithium (Private) Limited (Zulu), has concluded the procurement, installation and commissioning contract with Xinhai Technology Processing wholly owned subsidiary, Thriving Engineering Private Limited (the Contractor), for the provision of a spodumene flotation plant at the Zulu Lithium and Tantalum project in Zimbabwe (the project),” Premier said in a statement.
According to Premier, the contract provides for the supply of flotation equipment and specialist engineering services to support the installation, commissioning, and optimisation of a 15-20 tonnes per hour spodumene flotation circuit at Zulu.
“Key commercial and technical terms of the contract include: i. Delivery of flotation equipment within 15 days and on-site engineering support for installation and commissioning. The concrete foundations have already been completed,” Premier said.
“ii. A process performance guarantee, under which the contractor is required to commission the flotation circuit to achieve targeted spodumene concentrate grade and recoveries at a design throughput of 15-20 tonnes per hour, subject to feed meeting agreed specification.
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“iii. A staged payment structure, with a portion of the commissioning fees withheld and only payable upon achievement of agreed performance and throughput criteria, aligning final payment with delivery of operational performance.”
All required civil works to accommodate the flotation plant upgrade have been completed, enabling installation and commissioning activities to proceed without delay, Premier revealed.
“Subject to logistics, site readiness and ramp-up dynamics, the company expects the upgraded flotation circuit to be commissioned and optimised during Q2 2026,” it added.
Premier managing director Graham Hill said the focus at Zulu was firmly on improving the stability and consistency of overall processing performance.
“While the concluding of this agreement with the contractor has taken a little longer than planned, the intervening period has provided an opportunity for a combination of detailed technical discussions and the need to ensure that the appropriate contractual protections, including performance-related provisions, were properly aligned with our operational requirements and validation of funding,” he said.
“Importantly, the contractual framework now in place provides for commissioning to be undertaken against defined performance criteria, with elements of payment linked to the achievement of those outcomes.
“We believe that this structure appropriately aligns contractor incentives with delivery of the processing performance we require and represents a further step in the company’s ongoing focus on stabilising and optimising processing performance at the project.”
The agreement allowed for completion of works, commissioning, and optimisation within the long stop date [critical contractual deadline] under its deal with Canmax Technologies Co Ltd, signed last month, which is anchored on a prepayment financing arrangement.
