Bulk metallurgical test work delivers manganese concentrate product with a significantly improved yield profile than historical data.
Highlights
Significant increase in manganese grades achieved with a feed grade of 15.83% Mn upgraded to a >30% Mn in concentrate, showing promise as suitable material for exporting to the steel market and/or feed into the manganese sulphate battery market.
Beneficiation tests on the manganese feed resulted in significant grade improvements:
Dense Media Separation (DMS) achieved grades of up to 36.9% Mn, with the 150kg bulk test returning a combined concentrate grade of 30.04% Mn.
First-pass ore sorting achieved a grade of 29.86% Mn.
Importantly, the yield was improved significantly from the historical test work, with an overall improvement of >200% in the 150kg bulk test from an average mass recovery of 14.41% historically to 37.52% currently. Contained manganese recovery also increased considerably from 35.29% to 70.95%.
These results are considered highly promising given the early stage of the test work.
Initial manganese concentrate leaching test work has commenced as part of an overall strategy to add value through downstream processing with the ambition to supply high purity manganese sulphate (HPMSM) to the growing electric vehicle battery market.
Trek Metals Limited (ASX: TKM) (“Trek” or “the Company”) is pleased to advise that highly encouraging results have been received for metallurgical test work on diamond core from the 100%-owned Hendeka Manganese Project in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
Trek is currently evaluating the opportunity to produce manganese concentrate for the steel industry, as well as investigating the potential to convert the feed into high-value High Purity Manganese Sulphate Monohydrate (HPMSM) that is used in the manufacture of lithium-ion batteries.
Trek’s CEO Derek Marshall said: “The results of this test work build and improve on the historical metallurgical data inherited with the project and show that the manganese mineralisation at Hendeka is capable of producing manganese concentrate with grades of >30% Mn validating the Company’s test work approach. Importantly, the significant improvement in yield means that a higher proportion of the Resource can be converted into a saleable product, which ultimately has a significant impact on the economics of any future mining operation.
コメント