Tag Archives: cobalt

Panoramic’s Savannah nickel-copper-cobalt project rises again

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The first shipment of bulk nickel-copper-cobalt concentrate from Panoramic Resources’ recently recommissioned Savannah project, in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, has departed Wyndham bound for Lianyungang, China, the company says.

The MV Heemskerkgracht (pictured) departed with 7,735 t (wet) of concentrate on-board, with a preliminary invoice value of approximately A$ 8.6 million ($6.1 million), Panoramic reported.

Panoramic’s Managing Director, Peter Harold, said: “It is wonderful to see Savannah concentrate being shipped again from Wyndham. This is a significant milestone in the recommissioning of the mine and processing plant at Savannah and I would like to thank the team at Savannah for their efforts to get the project going again.”

Panoramic successfully commissioned the $65 million Savannah project in late 2004 and then, in 2005, purchased and restarted the Lanfranchi nickel project, near Kambalda. In its 2014 financial year, the company produced a record 22,256 t of contained nickel and produced 19,301 t contained nickel in the year after.

The Lanfranchi and Savannah projects were placed on care and maintenance in November 2015 and May 2016, respectively, pending a sustained recovery in the nickel price.

After delivering an updated feasibility study on Savannah in October 2017, securing an offtake customer and putting in place project financing in July 2018, the company made the decision to restart operations at Savannah. The Lanfranchi project was sold, in December 2018, for a total cash consideration of A$15.1 million, providing additional financial support for the reopening of the Savannah project.

Savannah is expected to ramp up to full production over 15 months to a forecast life of mine average annual production rate of 10,800 t of nickel, 6,100 t of copper and 800 t of cobalt metal contained in concentrate.

ERG trials IBM Blockchain Platform to support Clean Cobalt Framework

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Eurasian Resources Group says it will pilot a blockchain-based solution built on the IBM Blockchain Platform at its Metalkol RTR operation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to help enhance the provenance and traceability of cobalt in the metal’s supply chain.

Metalkol RTR is ERG’s hydrometallurgical plant in the DRC and has a target capacity of 24,000 t/y of cobalt.

ERG said: “While cobalt and other metals such as copper, nickel and lithium drive the global battery sector, their extraction may come at high cost for the surrounding ecosystem, including the use of child labour and pollution which is compounded by the current dearth of viable reuse and recycling systems. The blockchain-based solution helps to ensure that the material is traceable.”

The blockchain supports ERG’s Clean Cobalt Framework at Metalkol RTR, a reprocessing plant for historic copper and cobalt tailings from previous mining operations, which is nearing operation, according to ERG.

Niels de Jongh, Executive Partner IBM Global Business Services, said: “ERG’s initiative to implement a blockchain solution to bring together stakeholders across the cobalt supply chain can help transform entire business processes in the mining industry and help bring new levels of trust. Leveraging IBM’s digital capabilities enables parties to develop the solution through an interactive approach with clear business focus.”

Benedikt Sobotka, CEO of Eurasian Resources Group and co-chair of the Global Battery Alliance, said: “This blockchain-based solution will aim to enable manufacturers to confirm that the cobalt was sourced at Metalkol RTR by aggregating the necessary data and information on the raw material.”

Leveraging IBM’s blockchain platform and expertise, the platform will aim to determine the provenance of cobalt throughout the supply chain, from extraction to production, a process that is currently complex and costly. Using blockchain will allow individuals to track the origins of cobalt across the supply chain, including once it’s been to a smelter and blended, and reduce costs through efficient information sharing, tracking and transparency according to the highest standards.

Sobotka added: “As a founding member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Battery Alliance, ERG aims to create new standards in the industry. We are therefore pleased to be piloting this innovative blockchain-based solution on the IBM platform. This way we can guarantee with certainty that the material that customers buy is not tainted by artisanally-produced material.”

Last week, MineHub Technologies and IBM announced a collaboration to use blockchain technology to help improve operational efficiencies, logistics and financing and reduce costs in the high-value mineral concentrates supply chain — from mine to end buyer. Goldcorp, ING Bank, Kutcho Copper, Ocean Partners and Wheaton Precious Metals are working with MineHub to build the new mining supply chain solution on top of the IBM Blockchain Platform.

eCobalt looks for 50% production increase at Idaho project

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eCobalt Solutions has identified the potential to increase the production rate by 50% at its Idaho cobalt project (ICP) in the US, even before it has started mining.

Following an extensive internal review, the company’s team has assessed the production rate can increase to 1,200 t/d, from 800 tpd, “creating a more resilient project economic plan”, it said.

While the company did not indicate how much extra capital would be involved in such a move – it is continuing to work with Micon International to finalise the feasibility-level study – it did say the change was not expected to significantly delay achieving full production, or require additional permits.

“This 1,200 t/d mine plan with improved economies of scale should create a more resilient project economic plan that can withstand the volatility of the cobalt market experienced recently,” eCobalt said. “A larger and more robust plan will furthermore elevate eCobalt’s position in the cobalt market.”

Michael Callahan, eCobalt’s President and CEO, said: “One of our principal objectives over the past several months has been to build a first-class technical team that has the talent to drive this project and the company forward.

“Together we took a critical look at the work that was in progress on the feasibility study, and rigorously tested all the assumptions to determine whether a larger and stronger plan could be developed.

“The result of this work demonstrated that the incremental cost of retrofitting the mill to process more tonnage is supported by considerably stronger economies of scale while having no expected impact on the approved plan of operations. This plan would allow us to produce more cobalt earlier, thereby increasing cash flows at the beginning of the mine life, improving payback and overall project economics.”

The company’s pilot-level testwork, along with ongoing market developments, have provided critical information needed to refine the list of potential offtake partners, eCobalt said. With the objective to produce a concentrate with the lowest processing cost to be sold at attractive terms, samples have been sent to this list of potential partners.

“The company has received positive feedback from these parties demonstrating that ICP concentrate is desirable due to its clean and ethical production as well as its high cobalt and copper content.

“As there is no equivalent or benchmark concentrate in the market, thorough testing by refineries is required to obtain final concentrate specifications and commercial terms. Testing and analysis of ICP cobalt concentrate samples is currently underway by these parties. As final concentrate specifications may affect downstream processing, additional guidance on the project development timeline will be provided once final indicative terms have been agreed.”

Work required over the next several months to complete the feasibility study with the new targeted production rate includes:

  • Adjusting the mining sequence, schedule and costing for 1,200 t/d;
  • Completing the engineering to expand the mill to 1,200 t/d;
  • Obtaining quotes to bring these cost estimates to feasibility-level, and;
  • Defining final concentrate specifications based on competitive commercial terms for offtake.

Over the course of the past 20 years, the company has spent over $135 million developing the project, which is environmentally permitted with proven mineable reserves of cobalt and secondary copper and gold.

The project is located in the heart of the Idaho Cobalt Belt, a mineral-rich, prolific metallogenic district unique to North America, which historically produced around 2 Mt of cobalt from the early 1900s to the 1960s.

Sherritt signs up for data security trial with Leonovus

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Sherritt International has signed up for a trial of Leonovus’ data security software as the nickel and cobalt miner looks to support its evolving storage infrastructure.

The pilot, which starts in January, will see Leonovus apply its “next generation of secure software-defined storage (SDS) solution” at the company’s operations in Canada, Cuba and Madagascar.

John Kiousis, Vice President of Global IT, Sherritt International, said the software will give the company the flexibility to segment data across multiple cloud storage providers, enabling it to take advantage of cost savings while protecting its data.

“Moving to the cloud will extend our IT infrastructure capabilities and support our goal of achieving operational excellence,” he added.

When using Leonovus, customers receive the following benefits, according to the Ottawa-based software provider:

  • “Ability to balance business growth with a flexible hybrid, multi-cloud storage infrastructure;
  • “Greater data security with Leonovus patented ‘encrypt, shred, spread’ capability;
  • “Maintain complete, on-premises control, of their encryption keys;
  • “Greater flexibility and simplicity to meet future data growth requirements through a single pane of glass.”

Outotec battery chemicals production technology on its way to Terrafame

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Outotec and Finnish multi-metal company Terrafame have agreed on the delivery of pressure leaching and solvent extraction technologies for a battery chemicals plant to be built in Sotkamo.

The two firms had already agreed on a supply deal, but had yet to confirm the specifications.

The total order value booked in the December quarter order intake is approximately €34 million ($39 million).

Outotec has partnered with Terrafame on this project since the prefeasibility study phase, helping the firm design the 170,000 t/y of nickel sulphate and 7,400 t/y of cobalt sulphate plant, which will be built nearby to the company’s existing mine.

“Outotec’s scope of delivery comprises the technology and engineering of the leaching and solvent extraction plants, supply of proprietary equipment as well as advisory services for installation, training, commissioning and start-up,” the company said.

The battery chemicals plant is expected to be ready for commissioning in 2020. As a by-product, the plant will produce approximately 115,000 t/y of ammonium sulphate used as a fertiliser and in process industry.

Kalle Härkki, Head of Outotec’s Metals, Energy & Water business unit, said: “We are pleased to be Terrafame’s trusted technology partner in this project. The demand for battery chemicals is expected to grow significantly in the future and we have the required expertise and proprietary equipment for their processing.”

Terrafame confirmed in October that it would go ahead with building the plant after securing the €240 million ($273 million) it needed for construction.

Nordmin to survey European Electric Metals’ Skroska project in Albania

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European Electric Metals has engaged the Nordmin Group of Companies to undertake a site inspection and to comment on the apparent condition of the surface and underground infrastructure and equipment of the Skroska project in Albania.

The site inspection will allow Nordmin to judge whether the existing underground workings and mine equipment can be used if the operations at the Skroska mine are restarted at present capacity of approximately 200 t/d. It will also allow the company to ascertain the requirements for potential expansions.

The Skroska deposit had a ‘historic’ resource of 22.4 Mt of laterite grading 0.99% Ni, 49.13% Fe and 0.065% Co. The laterite deposit is estimated to range from 2 m to 10 m in thickness and to average approximately 6 m thick.

The deposit occurs between the ultramafic rocks below and limestone on top or as a capping. The limestone is a competent rock making it an excellent candidate for use as a natural roof for the open stope underground mining method employed historically at the mine and proposed for the future.

Records indicate around 1.15 Mt of laterite ore was mined during 1985-1990 (by the state-owned mining enterprise) and between 2008-2013 (by a local private company).

The Nordmin Group of Companies is a 100% North American owned and operated provider of comprehensive EPC and EPCM solutions worldwide to industrial sectors spanning resource and project definition through construction and site closure. The group includes Nordmin Engineering, Nordmin Constructors and Nordmin Operators, and is based in Thunder Bay, Ontario with offices in Sudbury, Ontario, Kamloops, British Columbia and Salt Lake City, Utah.

European Electric Metals expects the technical team of Nordmin to be on site in December.

Australian Mines moves forward with Sconi cobalt-nickel-scandium project

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The bankable feasibility study on Australian Mines’ Sconi cobalt-nickel-scandium project in Queensland, Australia, has shown a three open pit, 2 Mt/y operation can be built for some $974 million.

For this investment, the company anticipates producing some 8,496 t/y of cobalt sulphate, 53,301 t/y of nickel sulphate and 89 t/y of scandium oxide over the 18-year mine life, generating a post-tax internal rate of return of 15%.

The 2 Mt/y processing plant is by far the biggest capital expense, coming in at $730 million. This will be based at the Greenvale site where the mining operation will also be centred.

The company then anticipates mining a separate open pit at Lucknow, 10 km to the southeast of Greenvale, with Greenvale and Lucknow being treated as a single-fleet mining area. The Kokomo open pit, 60 km to the north-northeast of Greenvale, will be operated with a separate mining fleet with ore to be hauled to the processing plant by road trains. Mining is expected to be carried out by contractor.

Total C1 cash costs for the Sconi production have come in at $0.48/Ib ($1,058/t) nickel (post cobalt and scandium credits). Given the near-surface nature of the laterite mineralisation at Sconi, the mining schedule encompasses a short pre-strip period of just three months, followed by around 12.5 years of mining operations, with a peak mining rate of up to 6 Mt/y, and then a further five years of stockpile processing operations.

The flowsheet includes a mix of crushing and grinding, high pressure acid leach, pressure oxidation leach and solvent extraction to produce the three separate products (scandium oxide, cobalt sulphate and nickel sulphate).

In February, Australian Mines signed an offtake agreement term sheet with SK Innovation (a subsidiary of SK Holdings, one of South Korea’s largest companies) for 100% of the expected cobalt sulphate and nickel sulphate production from the Sconi project for an initial period of seven years, with an option exercisable by SK Innovation to extend this commodity supply agreement for a further six years. SK will use the cobalt and nickel sulphate to supply their global electric vehicle battery manufacturing plants.

While the BFS anticipates only around 10% of scandium oxide produced being sold, the company is currently working with Metalysis and leading academic researchers at the Amrita Centre for Research and Development in India to develop new markets for the metal.

The next step for the company is securing the funds to complete development of Sconi, which Australian Mines envisages being wrapped up next year before mining and construction starts in 2020.

Panoramic looks to RCT teleremote solution for quick wins at Savannah North

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Panoramic Resources has looked to RCT’s Guidance Automation system to increase productivity at its soon-to-be-producing Savannah North nickel project in Western Australia.

Already familiar with RCT’s Smart Technology – having implemented the company’s teleremote function on its machines at the previously-operating Savannah mine – Panoramic is aware of the safety aspects of the technology and looked towards an upgrade to further drive productivity and profitability, according to RCT.

RCT’s ControlMaster® Guidance Automation, Point-to-Point and G-Dash will soon be installed on the site’s existing CAT R2900 LHDs; allowing operators to safely control the machines from the comfort of an Automation Centre on the site’s surface.

In this instance, RCT will be retrofitting the site’s existing Telecabins, to make use of existing infrastructure.

These cabins will undergo a full refurbishment and be fitted out with the latest control chairs, Laser Guard containment and communication hardware features.

“Guidance Automation and Point-to-Point features will increase productivity by allowing for ‘hot-seat’ during shift changes, significantly reduce unexpected downtime associated with machine damage, and increase overall machine utilisation which will in turn increase profitability,” RCT says.

RCT will also provide specialised training for operators, to make them more self-sufficient on site to further reduce downtime.

Delivery of this project is underway, while Panoramic is due to start mining at Savannah North this quarter.

The project is expected to ramp up to full production over 15 months to a forecast life of mine average annual production rate of 10,800 t of nickel, 6,100 t of copper and 800 t of cobalt metal contained in concentrate.

Terrafame to go ahead with nickel-cobalt sulphate plant in Sotkamo, Finland

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Terrafame is to build a battery chemicals plant in Sotkamo, Finland, after finding the €240 million ($273 million) it needs to build the nickel-cobalt facility.

Terrafame, which took over the zinc-nickel-cobalt mine following the bankruptcy of former owner Talvivaara, said it intends to have the plant completed at the end of 2020 and commercial production started in 2021. Back in July, the company received permitting permission for the plant.

“The intention of the investment is the further processing of Terrafame’s current main product nickel-cobalt sulphide into nickel sulphate and cobalt sulphate, used in the manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries,” Terrafame said.

The production capacity of the battery chemicals plant will be 170,000 t/y of nickel sulphate and 7,400 t/y of cobalt sulphate. This amount of nickel sulphate should prove to be enough to produce around 1 million/y electric vehicle batteries, with the cobalt sulphate enough to cover around 300,000/y.

Outotec is to supply the pressure leaching technology for the battery chemicals plant, with the contract including the planning of the leaching technology area, the supply of key equipment, and installation supervision and training services.

Pressure leaching is the first of the three main phases of the battery chemicals plant. During the pressure leaching, nickel-cobalt sulphide, which is Terrafame’s current main product, is first placed in a elutriating unit, where it is mixed with the process water. The slurry is then fed into an autoclave (ie a pressure leaching reactor, with a raised pressure and temperature) to produce a metal sulphate solution. After thickening and filtration, the solution is directed for further refining and finally for the production of battery chemicals.

Outotec has been involved in Terrafame’s battery chemicals plant project since the prefeasibility study phase. Construction of the electric vehicle battery chemicals plant is due to begin in the first half of 2019, with deliveries of pressure leaching technology estimated to begin in early 2020.

A funding package of $200 million related to the financing of the plant project was agreed by Terrafame, Finnish Minerals Group (previously Terrafame Group Ltd), Galena Asset Management, Trafigura Group and Sampo plc back in November 2017. In connection with the plant’s final investment decision, the parties have agreed on an additional funding package of approximately €100 million, Terrafame said.

Matti Hietanen, CEO of Finnish Minerals Group (which currently owns 77% of Terrafame and is wholly owned by the Finnish government), said: “This is a very important investment for Terrafame and its owners as well as the whole Finnish and European electric vehicle battery manufacturing value chain. Terrafame’s investment also improves the conditions for attracting more operators in the battery manufacturing value chain to Finland.”

Mika Lintilä, the Finnish Minister of Economic Affairs, said the Finnish state was willing to do its part in advancing the development of the Finnish battery production value chain “and to take forward the necessary efforts in research & development, operating conditions of businesses as well as investments”.

This week, BASF selected Harjavalta, Finland, as the first location for a battery materials production hub serving the European automotive market.

Barminco and Independence Group establish Technology Development Committee

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Barminco Holdings and Independence Group have established a Technology Development Committee at the same time as the two agreed to extend the services contract at the Australian miner’s Nova nickel-copper-cobalt operation in Western Australia.

The committee’s aim is to identify and implement innovative methods and technologies to advance safety and productivity in underground mining. According to Barminco Chief Executive Officer, Paul Muller, this will initially target projects such as the early stage development of electric vehicles, enhanced mine control systems, machine vision and proximity detection.

In the meantime, a four-year contract extension for underground mining services at Nova will see Barminco pocket some A$240 million ($170 million). There is an option for a two-year extension within the contract.

Muller said Nova was an important project for the company, with Barminco delivering 29 km of development and extracting 2.4 Mt of ore since development started in 2015.

“Barminco has supported the Nova project’s transition from development, starting with excavation of the box-cut on Australia Day 2015, to production, delivering a successful first year of commercial production in the 2018 financial year.” The 2018 financial year saw the operation produce 22,258 t of nickel and 9,545 t of copper.

Muller added: “We now look forward to working closely with IGO under a formal arrangement to drive further productivity and safety improvements at Nova.”

Peter Bradford, IGO’s Managing Director and CEO, said: “Barminco has been an important partner in the development of Nova. With the majority of the capital development completed at Nova there is a focus on incremental operational and productivity improvements associated with stope mining activities.

“The four-year term, with the option to extend by two years, allows us to work together to unlock this value.”

He added that both companies are committed to mapping and implementing these productivity improvements through new technologies, with the establishment of the technology committee representing an important step towards this objective.

Just last week, Barminco, which is in the middle of being taken over by Ausdrill, was awarded two four-year contracts at Gold Fields’ Agnew gold mine in Western Australia.

On the same day the Nova contract extension was announced, Ausdrill confirmed its shareholders had signed off the deal for Barminco. The offer values Barminco’s equity at A$271.5 million. The deal is now expected to be completed by the end of the month.