Franklin Project PEA: $5.00B NPV, 24% IRR
Standard Lithium Ltd.'s Franklin Project in Hopkins, Franklin, and Titus Counties, Texas, United States has a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) outlining an after-tax NPV of $5.00B and an after-tax IRR of 24%. The mine plan runs 20 years at about 70000 TPA lithium carbonate per year.
Standard Lithium Ltd.'s Franklin Project has reported Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) results for the lithium (lithium carbonate) project in Hopkins, Franklin, and Titus Counties, Texas, United States. The study headlines an after-tax net present value of $5.00B. It reflects Standard Lithium Ltd.'s (SLI.V) latest disclosed economics for the asset.
Economics. The after-tax NPV is $5.00B. After-tax IRR is 24%. All-in sustaining costs are pegged at 4226 USD/t. Economics are based on Assumes $22,400/t lithium price and a 20-year modelled operating life.
Production and mine plan. Life of mine is 20 years. Average annual production is approximately 70000 TPA lithium carbonate. Average head grade is 562 mg/L Li initial lithium grade at start of production; 515 mg/L average grade over plant operating life.
Resources and ownership. The company holds a 55% interest in the project.
These figures are extracted from Standard Lithium Ltd.'s technical disclosures and reflect the most recent PEA on file. Compare this project against other developers and producers in our project economics database, and always verify the numbers against the original technical report before making any investment decision.
Reserves & Resources
| Category | Tonnage | Grade | Contained |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indicated | — | 562 mg/L Li (avg. lithium concentration on Indicated Resource) | 1.8Mt LCE |
| Indicated | — | — | 2.7Mt bromide |
| Inferred | — | — | 15.1Mt potash (KCl) |
| Inferred | — | — | 2.1Mt LCE (inferred lithium) and 3.1M bromide |
Our Analysis
- IRR after-tax
- 24%
higher than 31% of 369 projects we track
- NPV after-tax
- $5.00B
higher than 97% of 512 projects we track
- Mine life
- 20yrs
- Discount rate
- 8%
- Study price assumption
- Assumes $22,400/t lithium price and a 20-year modelled operating life
A US$5.00B after-tax NPV against a US$479M market capitalisation is the whole argument in one line. That multiple of roughly 10.4x says one of two things, and the inputs do not settle which. Either the market has not done the work on a lithium carbonate development asset in Hopkins, Franklin and Titus Counties, Texas, or it has done the work and does not believe the numbers survive contact with financing and permitting. Both readings are live. A 20-year mine life is the part that argues for durability rather than a spike: this is not a short, price-taking operation, it is a long-dated cash flow stream, and long-dated streams are exactly what the market discounts hardest when the capital has not yet been raised.
The returns sit awkwardly against that headline. A 24% after-tax IRR ranks above only 31% of the 369 projects we track across all commodities, which places it in the lower half of the peer set. It clears the roughly 15% after-tax threshold developers typically need to attract project finance, but not by a margin that makes the funding conversation easy. The NPV, by contrast, ranks above 97% of the 512 projects we track. That divergence is the tell: the value is concentrated in scale and life, not in rate of return. The study's 8% discount rate is a reporting convention and carries no signal here.
Two things temper the whole picture. This is a PEA, scoping-level work that may lean on inferred resources and carries a capital estimate with a plus or minus 50% band, so the US$5.00B should be read as a range, not a figure. And the study assumes a US$22,400/t lithium price across the modelled 20-year life, an assumption that stands as the key sensitivity: the NPV moves hard with it, and nothing in the inputs corroborates or contradicts that level. The company holds four projects, so this does not stand or fall alone.
The deciding question is whether a US$5.00B study can be financed and permitted into a US$479M company.
Our take, benchmarked against the project economics in the Mining Stocks database. Figures are estimates drawn from company technical reports — not investment advice; always verify against the source filing.
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