My intuitive senses tell me that our management read the posts on ARL Hotcopper. I think they watch to gage the mood and to stay on top of investor understandings generally. I think they get confidence knowing the troops are behind them. I think they sometimes may feed us with information to clarify and crystalize our thoughts on matters previously discussed here. To be honest, our threads are easily followed without the crud seen elsewhere, so it would make sense.
The reason I state this is that we recently had a solid interaction with JD from over at our peer. JD was welcomed here.
The quarterly actually deals with issues from the discussions had with JD (Please correct me if I am wrong) We discussed tailings, waste and disposal thereof, the geology, the autoclave, the test plant and other related matters. From those discussions we determined that our process is a PAL and not an HPAL process, I note the quarterly makes note of HPAL on a number of occasions. I have previously disclosed that I am not a techie or engineer so look to you for guidance here. ? RED
Extracts from page 3 - 4 - 5
Metallurgically uncomplicated flowsheet adopted – refined in bench-scale and continuous piloting during the Quarter, focussing on premium goethite ore with significantly shorter pressure vessel residence time compared to other competitor nickel laterite ore types. The ore doesn’t require beneficiation to achieve feed grades, so eliminating a processing step which caused materials handling problems for previous WA nickel laterite operations
On-site process plant feedstocks being evaluated – notably neutraliser for HPAL discharge, targets located within scheduled Goongarrie pits, negating the need to import high-cost carbonate neutraliser.
Benign environmental setting – the arid climate facilitates evaporation of tailings (so avoiding the submarine tailings disposal of some tropical nickel laterites), with long-established rehabilitation protocols developed from previous Eastern Goldfields nickel laterite mining operations.
The Goongarrie Nickel Cobalt Project has been designed to minimise its development footprint. Key attributes include: • The strip ratio is low at approximately 2:1, thereby minimising project waste generation. • Waste is environmentally benign and used for progressive back-fill and rehabilitating adjoining earlier stage pits. • Early-mined nodular surface laterite waste is particularly well suited as road base for site access roads. • The ultramafic rock mine waste from anecdotal observation favours flora assemblages amenable to waste stabilisation. • There are no indications to date of Acid Mine Drainage risk.
The GNCP has had several unique attributes identified in Ardea R&D programs: • Carbonate is necessary for neutralising autoclave discharge – suitable carbonate will be recovered from mine waste at minimal effective cost and includes dolomite and magnesite neutraliser resources within pit floor saprock underlying the nickel-cobalt ore zones. Bench-scale test-work is current at a metallurgical laboratory, quantifying neutralisation rate and recovery of the accessory nickel and cobalt naturally present in the site carbonates. • Comminution media available from mine sub-grade – multi-element analysis along with detailed core logging and SG determination revealed a very specific geo-metallurgical ore type that is a biscuity goethite ore that has been re-cemented by massive haematite at the top of the orebody to generate a highly indurated rock (>50% Fe, 0.5% Ni, 1.5% Cr). The moderate nickel material type is suitable as comminution media in a SAG mill treating very soft, low Bond Work Index “run-of-mine” goethite ore. • Tailings research has demonstrated exceptional filtration ability – facilitating dry-stack tailings disposal rather traditional slurry tailings. A cost/benefit analysis is underway. • Detailed core logging combined with multi-element geochemistry and XRD mineralogy has identified potential co-products – including scandium oxide (scandia) and manganese sulphate from the HPAL/MS circuit, and High Purity Alumina (kaolin as precursor), scandium, vanadium and rare earth elements (REE) occurring in laterite overlying the Ni-Co-Sc ore zones.
ARL Price at posting:
53.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
(20min delay)