Firering Strategic Minerals: From explorer to producer. Watch the video here.
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mesb48
Interesting, in particular the comment at the end (20 minutes 48 seconds in). Thanks for posting.
This, also from "The Assay", is worth taking in.
https://www.theassay.com/articles/investor-insight/the-great-laterite-challenge-why-scaling-class-1-nickel-production-wont-be-easy-cheap-or-environmentally-friendly/
TDT
That should have been 20 minutes 10 seconds in where Angela Durrant says, despite the nickel price being at $18,000 to $19,000 she is "....not seeing banks put their hands in their pockets to finance new projects" Well they have for Araguaia. That must say something about the quality of the project.
For anybody wondering about this:-
https://www.theassay.com/articles/investor-insight/the-great-laterite-challenge-why-scaling-class-1-nickel-production-wont-be-easy-cheap-or-environmentally-friendly/
The key takeaway from this article, for me, is the reference to HPAL projects in the 40,000 to 50,000 tonnes pa range being problematic whereas the 20,000 - 30,000 tonne pa sized HPAL projects being far more successful. Vermelho is scheduled to be 25,000 tonne pa.
TDT
TDT and Mes
Thanks for article and video
HPAL still looks high risk to me , will only happen with a partner which is ce mentioned a lot .
I am thinking more and more SS will be a better 2nd option financially .
But I will say Battery grade Nickel demand is so high over next few years ,someone may
Well take this on .
TDT - did not understand why 20k-30k plant have been more successful
Achieving nameplate capacity will be very challenging
Hazbeen
"did not understand why 20k-30k plant have been more successful "
I'm not sure anybody knows why. The only thing that is clear is the bigger projects have struggled more than the smaller. It seems Horizonte has taken on board that lesson and sized Vermelho accordingly.
If its the limonite they're going to target at Vermelho they don't have too many options other than HPAL. It all boils down to the ore and which process is the most suitable.
"The higher nickel content saprolites tend to be commercially treated by a pyro metallurgical process involving roasting and electrical smelting techniques to produce ferro nickel. The power requirements and high iron to nickel ore ratio for the lower nickel content limonite and limonite/saprolite blends make this processing route too expensive, and these ores are normally commercially treated by a hydrometallurgical process such as the High Pressure Acid Leach (HPAL) process or combination of pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical processe such as the Caron reduction roast - ammonium carbonate leach process. Other hydrometallurgical acid leaching techniques have been developed to exploit nickeliferous oxidic ore in the past decade apart from conventional high pressure acid leach (HPAL)."
They've said HPAL so I guess they're going down that route for a good reason.
TDT
Good evening all, I thought I could contribute an article to this discussion. Page 7 and onward, reviews operational histories of a dozen, notable, HPAL plants. Capacities over time, ramp up risks, notable failures, capex/opex, autoclave types, etc. Names like Moa, Murrin Murrin, Coral Bay, Goro, Ambotovy, Ramy all get mentions. By no means a deep read, but I found it useful nonetheless:
“hTTps:// gigametals.com/site/assets/files/4861/2018-03-19-hpal.pdf”
I have been listening in for years, thanks for all the high-quality chatter. Cheers