Panther Metals (ASX:PNT) has completed an initial first round of high pressure acid leach (HPAL) testing at the Coglia nickel-cobalt project in Western Australia with test work returning final nickel extraction at 92.6% and cobalt extraction at 73.9%.
Feed for the test work was based on a blended sample obtained from six drill holes from the maiden drilling programme, located across the strike of the current resource area and from varying horizons of mineralized material.
The majority of the contained material was less than -38μm in size, with the higher-grade nickel residing in ultra-fine fractions. Test work indicated the potential to further upgrade the nickel grade through beneficiation.
“This initial round of HPAL testing from the Coglia Nickel-Cobalt Project has returned fantastic results,” Managing Director, Daniel Tuffin, said.
“With a final recovery of 92.6% nickel, these results confirm that the laterite nickel mineralization at Coglia falls within the industry-accepted processing recovery range, with ALS Laboratories confirming that 90-95% recovery is generally what you’d expect from HPAL of laterites’.
“Additionally, most of the higher nickel grades are in the finer size fractions, which with further study may prove that beneficiation processes such as scrubbing, cyclones and/or screening could potentially remove the need for milling.
“The company is awaiting a further report from ALS and will also engage independent experts for further review. It will update the market on any further findings once complete.
While the Company’s focus for the next phase of exploration at Coglia remains on drilling and expanding the current resource, it will continue to carry out further testing and studies in parallel to support a future Pre-Feasibility Study, including further HPAL bench test work programmes.”
The final stage of testing completed milling of the sample to a P80 of 150μm and then conducting an HPAL test.
The results indicated that the majority of the sample was already in the -38μm size fraction, and this fraction coincided with the highest nickel content. Although only an initial HPAL test, ALS postulated the potential of upgrading the feed through beneficiation processes (ie: scrubbing, cyclones, screening, etc) and that as the grade of the nickel is higher in finer fractions (-212μm) it may remove the need for any milling.
The HPAL test was then run targeting a conservative free acid of ~50g/L with a temperature of 250 degrees Celsius, 30% solids and a 2-hour retention time. The HPAL test resulted in a 92.6% recovery for nickel and 73.9% recovery for cobalt.
For further information please visit: https://panthermetals.com.au/
