Piedmont Lithium Limited is pleased to announce that it has appointed Mr. Jim Harkins as a technical advisor to the Company. Jim will provide peer review and technical support for the Company's planned development of a spodumene concentrator in the historic Carolina Tin-Spodumene Belt located in North Carolina, United States.
Mr. Harkins has over 35 years' experience in mineral processing including 20 years in spodumene concentration. Mr. Harkins worked in increasingly senior engineering roles at FMC's historic Hallman-Beam mine and was in mill management positions for nine years until FMC ceased operations at Hallman-Beam in 1998. Mr. Harkins modernized and innovated processing at FMC during his tenure including successful application of some of the earliest commercially available ore-sorting technologies, modernization of flotation technology, and improvements in instrumentation and control.
Mr. Harkins considerable experience in design engineering, operations, management and quality control of spodumene concentration will provide the Company with tremendous knowledge as the Piedmont Lithium Project advances into further technical study. Mr. Harkins will participate in all aspects of Piedmont Lithium's metallurgical testwork program and engineering studies in a peer review capacity.
Jim Harkins holds a Bachelor of Science in Mineral Processing Engineering from West Virginia University, is a certified US Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) instructor, an active member of SME and the American Society for Quality, and a former member of the NC State University Minerals Research Laboratory advisory board.
Keith D. Phillips, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented: "We are very pleased to welcome Jim Harkins to our team as a Technical Advisor. With 20 years of spodumene concentration experience, including 9 years as the mill manager at FMC's historic Hallman-Beam project, Jim is one of the world's foremost experts in spodumene concentration, and is a further example of the deep lithium industry talent pool available in Gaston County, NC."
