More research summary. Rather interesting, hopefully it's the same for posters, too.
Sally_Will: Julian Malnic and the DNi process.
1. William F. Drinkard Jr. patented his Ni-laterite process on 1 May 2008 (reference US20100064854A1). The IP was assigned to Drinkard Metalox Inc. Drinkard's patent documentation is more exhaustive and well-edited.
2. Graham Brock, Michael Rodriguez & Fiona Mccarthy patented their Ni-laterite process on 28 September 2012 (AU2013325098B2 & WO2014047672A1). The IP was filed by and assigned to Poseidon Nickel Ltd and Direct Nickel PL. Julian Malnic owns Direct Nickel PL. Documentation-wise by comparison, Brock et al.'s patent documentation is not exhaustive and has several typos.
3. Both processes are similar in that nitric acid is used and can be applied to lateritic ores, saprolites, limonites, oxides, sulphides, other metal bearing materials, and metallurgical wastes. Both processes can also be used to recover metals other than Ni and Co.
4. Despite the similarities, Brock et al.'s process differed significantly from Drinkard's process, thereby allowing them to patent it. 5. Drinkard's process applies a single-stage nitric acid leach and has a higher temperature requirement of up to 130 C. 6. Brock et al.'s process applies a two-stage nitric acid leach slurry and has lower temperature requirement of less than 100 C.
7. Drinkard and Brock et al. were not the only inventors in this field. Several others around the world have also filed their patents pertaining to processing Ni and Co from various ores using different acids.
RED: AUZ's DES process
1. DES is the acronym for Deep Eutectic Solvent.
2. Eutectic systems are mixtures of contituents/substances/compounds/materials/etc. resulting in a lower mixture melting point compared to the melting points of the individual constituents. Eg. NaCl solution at 23.3% NaCl melts at -21.2 C, compared to the melting points of NaCl and H2O separately. 35% Pb and 65% Sn solder alloy melts al lower temperature compared to Pb and Sn separately.
3. The DES process does not use acid. It generally uses non-aqueous (non-water based) solutions of quarternary ammonium salts and another subtance. 4. The DES process has been researched since the early-2000s. There are already many commercial and industrial applications of DES, such as removing scale, processing cellulose, fracturing subterranean formations, and producing liquid vaccines for live wrapped viruses.
5. AUZ is working with a company called Descycle. 6. On its website, Descycle stated that the company "was founded in 2018 with the sole mission of commercialising a revolutionary new class of chemistry, developed by the University of Leicester, Deep Eutectic Solvents (DES)". 7. DES company slogan is " Metals Made New: Breakthrough Clean Technology for Metals Recycling and Recovery".
8. There does not seem to be a patent filed yet for explicitly processing Ni/Co from laterites or other ore types.
Absolutely Clueless: "...one of the greatest unaswered questions in my time..."
1. Brock et al.s process patent filed on 28 September 2012 was granted 5 years later on 14 December 2017. 2. When the boys did their song and dance in 2012, they had prematurely celebrated a new tech arrival that allowed the Ni mining industry to use a radical costs-saving process. 3. An Extraordinary General Meeting of Heron Resources Limited was held atthe Celtic Club, 48 Ord Street, West Perth, WA 6005 on 29 September 2016 at2pm (WST) to spin out ARL as a new company. 4. The knives were already out before the patent was granted. 5. Then there is the matter of Ni miners needing to pay royalties for using the IP. 6. Did Poseidon Nickel and DNi agree to the royalty calculation formula? Were there disagreements between the two assignees? 7. Time inexorably moves on, people get on with their lives, and everything became history. 8. Perhaps the reconstruction of the above events is a close enough satisfactory answer.
End.
ARL Price at posting:
72.5¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
(20min delay)