FAM.L Share News (FAM)

(ShareCast News) - Greenland and Finland-focused FinnAust Mining updated the market on its metallurgical test work programme at its Pituffik Titanium Project in Greenland on Monday.The AIM-traded company said Allied Mineral Laboratories was engaged in October 2016 to complete the next phase of process design and optimisations for what is expected to be consistent run-of-mine material, as well as identify further refinements of the gravity circuit to generate a concentrate of the titanium rich minerals at Pituffik.It said the key outcomes from that were expected to improve the design criteria for large-scale exploitation, which will feed into cost estimates and the feasibility study currently underway - required as part of the application process for an exploitation licence.FinnAust said representative samples from Pituffik were submitted for scanning electron microscope analysis to determine mineral species present, grain size and degree of liberation, as well as other identifying physical characteristics.The results were used to prepare a heavy liquid separation process which, when conducted on the -2mm sand fraction, produced a "very pure" ilmenite concentrate.Analysis of the potential ilmenite product from this concentrate continued to suggest the suitability of the Pituffik ilmenite for direct use in the sulphate process, the firm's board said, and upgrading to sulphate slag and chloride slag.Detailed chemical analysis so far completed on a potential ilmenite product reportedly indicated low levels of deleterious trace elements and beneficial iron oxide ratios.Bulk metallurgical samples collected from raised and active beaches during the 2016 field season had been dispatched to IHC Robbins in Brisbane as part of a design and pilot plant package, the board added."2016 was a solid year for the company - we made substantial progress in establishing the potential viability of the Pituffik Titanium Project," said CEO Roderick McIllree."Focus during 2017 will turn to further significant value accretive events as Pituffik continues to demonstrate its potential to host a large & high-grade ilmenite deposit which metallurgical test work indicates has the capacity to produce a high-quality concentrate."