By: Mining.com

Emerging spodumene producer Premier African Minerals (LSE:PREM) expects to begin commissioning and optimisation in Q2 2026 at the Zulu Lithium Project in Zimbabwe.

Commissioning planning is progressing with the process engineering team mobilisation initiated.

Premier African says that 5,000 tonnes of ore is available on the run-of-mine (ROM) stockpile for early commissioning. Additional ore will be supplied thereafter.

This news comes after the company installed new flotation cells, as well as product and tailings pumps on plinths. Installation of launders is currently underway with structural steelwork for walkways progressing well.

Managing Director Graham Hill says it is “positive” to see the increasing levels of operational readiness, including the mobilisation of the process engineering team and the availability of ore on the ROM pad.

Zulu was first pegged in 1955 and intensely explored until the early 1960s. The project’s pilot plant has a nameplate throughput of up to 190 tonnes per hour, however it is planned to run at a more conservative 140 tonne per hour at inception over a three-year plant life.

Premier African Minerals is focused on lithium, tantalum and tungsten in Zimbabwe.