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LONDON (Alliance News) - Horizonte Minerals PLC on Thursday said it has secured positive results from metallurgical and smelting test work on the Vermelho nickel cobalt project, located in northern Brazil.
The nickel development company said the metallurgical testwork was carried out at Kingston Process Metallurgy Inc in Ontario, Canada on representative samples of Vermelho saprolite and transition ore.
After riffling and splitting, the ore samples were crushed to 2 millimetres. A portion of this material was pulverised at 325 mesh to provide samples for thermogravimetric analysis and also chemical analysis. A sample of the crushed material was also tested for particle size distribution.
Tests of Vermelho saprolite samples returned an average ferronickel grade of 31.8% nickel. The ferro nickel product was of high quality, Horizonte said, being low in trace elements and meeting the commercial requirement of stainless-steel manufacturers.
"We are pleased to report the test work has confirmed that it is possible to produce high grade, commercial specification ferronickel from the saprolite and transition ore at Vermelho," said Chief Executive Jeremy Martin.
"We currently have a prefeasibility underway for the project and the data from this test work will be incorporated into the study with the objective of demonstrating a robust set of economics for the selected process route," added Martin.
Horizonte shares were trading 1.9% higher on Thursday at 2.07 pence each.
