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It will produce an average of 4900t per annum of lithium hydroxide at an all-in sustaining cost of $3221/ after credits for output of caesium, rubidium, sulphate of potash, and amorphous silica bulk by-products.
Collectively the by-products will account for 38% of total revenue.
Lepidico used an average lithium hydroxide price of $13,669/t over the life of the project for its modelling.
While mining and concentrating takes place in Namibia, the chemical conversion plant is to be built in Abu Dhabi because the United Arab Emirates city is the world's largest producer of sulphur, a key reagent in Lepidico's proprietary L-Max hydrometallurgical process.
The key attribute of L-Max is it being much less power intensive than the conventional chemical conversion of spodumene, meaning a modest carbon footprint versus the rest of the industry.
Lepidico is now focused on offtake and financing, expected to take about 12 months to complete.
Lepidico raised A$3.86 million in new equity earlier this month.
Shares in Lepidico were up 28.5% to 0.9c in morning trade, capitalising the company at $42 million.
