17 Jan 2014 17:45
REGENCY MINES PLC
("Regency" or the "Company")
Direct Nickel Limited - Feasibility Study Commences for DNi Plant in Indonesia
17 January 2014
Regency Mines Plc ("Regency" or the "Company"), the mining exploration and mineral investment company with interests in nickel and other minerals in Australia, Papua New Guinea and Sudan is pleased to announce an update on progress at Direct Nickel Limited ("DNi") (ASX:DIR), a company in which Regency is a 7.5% shareholder. DNi is the Company's joint venture partner in the Mambare nickel-cobalt laterite project in Oro Province, Papua New Guinea; a project which has a license for the DNi Process.
In an Australian Stock Exchange Announcement on 17 January 2014, DNi announced the commencement of a feasibility study for the first commercial-scale DNI Process nickel processing plant.
The feasibility study will take place at PT ANTAM's (Persero) Tbk ("ANTAM") (IDX:ANTIM; ASX:ATM) Buli Operation in Halmahera, Indonesia, next to ANTAM's new ferronickel smelter currently under construction. The feasibility study is expected by DNi to complete in early 2015.
ANTAM is a diversified mining company and Indonesia's largest nickel miner and already operates ferronickel processing facilities in Sulawesi. Co-operation agreements between ANTAM and DNI joint venture subsidiary PT DNi were signed with ANTAM in 2012 and 2013.
An Indonesian export ban came into effect on 12 January 2014 on unrefined mineral products. As the ban will not affect nickel concentrate that would be produced using the DNi process, DNi expects there to be a high level of demand to fill the gap in global markets created by the ban, particularly in China.
The DNi Process has been developed over the past seven years and has been demonstrated over the last year at a Test Plant facility located in the CSIRO's Mineral Research Centre in Perth at a scale of 1 tonne of ore per day. The test plant operation was completed in December 2013, with final reports on the results currently being prepared for release.
The full announcement is available to read at: http://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20140117/pdf/42m5hzxtppnnjl.pdf
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Note to Editors:The DNi Process is a hydrometallurgical process for the treatment of nickel laterites. It is designed to operate with tank leaching at atmospheric pressure, and to treat both limonite and saprolite ores with a single flowsheet. The DNi Process claims to recycle its reagents, offer high cobalt and nickel recoveries with short residence time, and to enable the treatment of nickel laterites with industry-competitive capital and operating costs. The DNi Process has the potential to add materially to the prospective value of world nickel laterite resources which receive access to the DNi Process.