SINGAPORE - Australian mining company Alliance Mineral Assets (AMAL) and Tawana Resources have taken their next step toward production with the start of commissioning of a plant in Western Australia.

Both parties, who are seeking to be "Australia's next hard rock lithium producer" with their 50:50 joint venture in the Bald Hill project, said that the dense media separation circuit has reached the commissioning stage, with an operational power plant, the commencement of dry commissioning, and the crushing and stockpiling of ore.

Wet commissioning is scheduled to begin on Feb 21.

The first lithium concentrate production is targeted for the first quarter of this year and first delivery is expected in April.

Tawana's managing director Mark Calderwood said on Thursday that the plant will be ramped up to full production run rate over several months, but it will be producing spodumene concentrates from the day ore is fed to the DMS circuit."This is a pivotal time for the project, as we make the transition from a developer to producer," Mr Calderwood added.

As at 9.15am, AMAL was trading one Singapore cent higher at S$0.375.

In January, AMAL and Tawana said that they had entered into a non-binding term sheet to sell at least 600,000 pounds (272,000 kg) of tantalum concentrate to a tantalum industry specialist.