Hi
@redboomer I wish I could help you on that one but I don't know the answer. I'm certainly not an expert on kaolin deposits etc and I would need to go over some commentary I received when I enquired about the deposit ages ago with the company.
At a very basic level and off the top of my head though this is my understanding:
You are right, each Kaolin deposit whilst having many similarities are not homogenous.
FYI's deposit 'grade' is certainly not as high as some of the Kaolin deposits around.
As an example. ADN have a much higher 'grade' deposit to the point they are intending on mining some of their deposit right away to sell for some quick and early cash flow.
I asked about this option with the FYI deposit and this is not an option which is economical for us.
However, I have been told consistently the past few years that our particular deposit, with its particular chemical make up is absolutely perfect for HPA production and FYI have spent two years of research and development tweaking their flowsheet to suit this particular deposit.
Not all deposits are suited to HPA production and certainly not just because they have a higher al203%.
So I am pretty certain it's not simply the case that with the higher the
al203 % the more economical a project might be. But it's a good question nonetheless and let us know if you find out anything.
Regarding further opportunities for Alcoa/FYI I have asked a number of questions as to what's possible. Questions have included:
- Can we look to increase annual production higher than 8,000 tpa?
- Could we look to have two commercial plants running at say 8,000 tpa? We have over 100 years of feedstock after all.
- Could we acquire another kaolin deposit and tweak our flowsheet to suit that particular deposit and have another plant there?
Of course, they can't really say anything but have said they are currently researching and exploring what is possible in all of these areas.
If I was speculating, I would say that the first dot point above is a huge possibility (increased annual production) but that is only my opinion.
It was also mentioned that Alcoa isn't in it to be just another HPA producer, they want to be a leader in a growing global market.
I don't want to get ahead of myself and think too far ahead but it's hard not too. If we nail this current commercial plant as per the DFS then we are all in for a great return on investment.
If Alcoa can assist in providing CAPEX and OPEX improvements then that's better again.
But if they want to be a market leader the JV could be far more than 1 8,000tpa commercial plant. When I asked the company if I was getting ahead of myself the comment was, no dream big. Again that means nothing at the moment, but I am sure they have been exploring what's possible for quite a while now.
Remember we have one interested party that wants 1/2 the annual production already who is the preferred customer.
We have had Aco Korea helping us with product marketing now for 18 months
We have a European partner who is big in HPA completing some milling on the product
We now have Alcoa's client base who would no doubt have an interest in HPA.
We aren't bothering sending samples to numerous requests for now.
So it's not hard to picture a situation where 8,000tpa may not be anywhere near enough to satisfy the demand we are getting.
As always DYOR and take my info and what I've been told with a pinch of salt as always.
