Together with its producer partner, Ganfeng Lithium, it has started preparing the site for the processing plant and the stockpiling of excavated material. It also has begun the preparatory work to upgrade the main access road to the site that will provide access for heavy equipment for bulk site earthworks later this year.

Bacanora is starting a tender process for the site accommodation and ancillary facilities, which are scheduled to be commissioned by the end of this year's June quarter.

"Transmission of engineering drawings and documentation from Ganfeng and its equipment suppliers in China has commenced and the final engineering packages will be delivered to Bacanora in Q2," the company said.

"In addition, Bacanora is working with its principal equipment suppliers to finalise a schedule for the delivery of the larger items of processing equipment for delivery in 2022. As part of this schedule, orders for the larger items of process equipment that have delivery schedules of over 12 months will be placed during Q321 for delivery to site in late 2022."

The ultimate goal for Sonora is to begin producing battery-grade lithium products in 2023.

Sonora Lithium is owned 77.5% by Bacanora and 22.5% by Ganfeng Lithium.

According to Bacanora, Sonora holds one of the world's larger lithium resources and benefits from being both high-grade and scalable.