Tag Archives: Wood Group

Salt Lake Potash nears SOP production milestone at Lake Way

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Salt Lake Potash Limited remains on track for first production and sale of sulphate of potash (SOP) in the June quarter after declaring the commencement of process plant commissioning at its Lake Way project in Western Australia.

In a project update, the company said first time potassium-rich harvest salts, precipitated from lake aquifer brine, have been fed into an SOP plant in Australia.

These harvest sales were successfully fed into the feed hopper, conveyed to the surge bin, run through the lump breaker, and then into the attritioning feed tank at the front end of the process plant. This front-end plant commissioning was powered by 2 MW diesel generators, which will continue to be used to progress the process in the near term.

Over the coming weeks the utilities, conversion circuit, flotation circuits, crystallisers and dryer will all be commissioned ahead of full load commissioning and SOP production in the June quarter, it said.

Consultants from the plant designer, Wood Group, as well as vendors Veolia and Broadbent (among others) will be assisting in the commissioning process.

In the meantime, gas supply lines and the delivery station for the 10 MW power station have been fully commissioned, with “power on” scheduled for late April to support final commissioning activities and production commencement.

Lake Way is a 245,000 t/y SOP development with an expected mine life of over 20 years. Located in the Goldfields region of Western Australia, it is expected to produce a high-quality SOP fertiliser with the help of Veolia Water Technologies’ HPD® crystallisation systems, among other processes.

Pensana engages Wood Group for UK rare earth processing facility study

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Pensana Rare Earths says it has appointed the Wood Group to undertake a study into the establishment of an integrated rare earth processing facility in the UK with a view to creating the world’s first sustainable magnet metal supply chain.

Having progressed the design of the Longonjo rare earths project, in Angola (pictured), to include the production of a mixed rare earth carbonate, Pensana says it now has a unique opportunity to explore the potential for it to make one further step downstream and to create additional value by establishing a rare earth oxide production facility in the UK.

“By linking a mid-stream magnet metal supply with downstream magnet manufacturing capacity there is the potential to create a sustainable magnet metal supply chain at a time of increasing concern over the provenance of these critical metals for the electric vehicle (EV) and offshore wind turbine industries,” the company said.

Following the recent resource upgrade, the Longonjo project is now one of the world’s largest known rare earth resources, according to Pensana.

“To give a sense of scale, the Longonjo project could, together with the UK processing facility, produce enough rare earth oxide to supply the wind turbines at Dogger Bank, projected to be the world’s biggest wind farm, for the next 20 years,” the company said.

With Angola Presidential approval and ongoing financial backing from the Angolan Sovereign Wealth Fund, Pensana’s Longonjo project is well-placed to become the first producing major rare-earth mine in over a decade at a time of burgeoning demand for these critical metals, the company says.

The project is being developed to international standards, has established infrastructure, including the capacity to be entirely powered by hydro-electricity, making Longonjo one of the world’s most sustainable rare earth producers.

Just last week, Pensana announced that Wood and Nagrom, based on test work performed at metallurgical laboratories in Perth, Western Australia, had developed a flowsheet to produce a particularly high-grade MREC, with NdPr comprising 33.5% of the total rare earths content.

Thierry Breton, the EU’s Internal Market Commissioner, recently announced the establishment of a European Raw Materials Alliance recognising that the EU needs to establish sustainable supply and processing capacity of rare earths to support the UK government’s plans for the UK to become the Saudi Arabia of wind, Pensana said.

“Pensana is focused on this broader context and the Wood Group study will take into account sustainable development when considering the process route, preferred location, capital and operating costs, financing arrangements and government incentives relating to the UK project,” it said.

The study is currently expected to take approximately three months to complete.

Pensana Chairman, Paul Atherley, said: “The Wood Group study will look at the first and most important step in creating a sustainable mine to magnet supply chain and that is establishing rare earth processing capability in the UK.”

Wood Group, Nagrom devise high-grade rare earth flowsheet for Pensana’s Longonjo

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Pensana Rare Earths says it has successfully produced a neodymium- and praseodymium-rich mixed rare earth carbonate (MREC) from test work currently underway on mineralisation from its Longonjo rare earth project, in Angola.

Industry experts Wood Group and Nagrom, based on test work performed at metallurgical laboratories in Perth, Western Australia, have successfully developed a flowsheet to produce a particularly high-grade MREC, with NdPr comprising 33.5% of the total rare earths content, Pensana said.

This MREC is a much higher-purity and higher-value product and has a much broader market and range of applications than the concentrate product contemplated in Pensana’s prefeasibility study, according to the company. Also, based on information provided by Wood and Nagrom, the specifications of Longonjo’s MREC compare favourably with the main products currently being produced and sold mainly in China.

In the meantime, the pilot plant and metallurgical test work at Longonjo are ongoing with a view to finalising the preferred process route and to providing data for engineering and production cost estimations for the bankable feasibility study (BFS).

A comprehensive update on the BFS will be reported towards the end of the month, with the company explaining that two of the circuits will be required to run for longer to bring the test work results up to the required reporting standards for the study.

“A key feature that the study will report is the potential for the project to be brought online as the first major rare earth mine in over a decade which can also offer a sustainable supply of mixed rare earth carbonate at a time when there is growing concern around the provenance of the rare earth supply chain,” the company said.

Pensana Chief Executive Officer, Tim George, said: “This is an important milestone for the project as it confirms the potential to produce a marketable higher value NdPr rich mixed rare earth carbonate. The market for this carbonate is substantially larger than that of a concentrate and is potentially not limited to China.

“We are now in a position to commence discussions with potential offtake parties in Japan, Korea and Europe in addition to the wide range of potential customers in China.

“Importantly the combination of this value-adding step, with the excellent infrastructure, not least the available hydro-electric power supply, will enable us to develop Longonjo as one of the world’s most sustainable rare earth suppliers on the critical magnet metal supply chain.”

Pensana recently issued a resource upgrade for Longonjo, which outlined measured, indicated and inferred resources of 313 Mt at 1.43% rare earth oxides, including 0.32% NdPr for 4.47 Mt of REO including 990,000 t of NdPr.

Wood Group receives Pensana Metals Longonjo rare earth PFS gig

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Following the recent mineral resource upgrade at the Longonjo NdPr project in Angola, Pensana Metals says it has appointed international engineering company Wood Group to execute a prefeasibility study (PFS) for expedited development of the asset.

The study will focus on the delivery of a low capital cost open-pit mining operation and exporting flotation concentrates to customers in China, via the recently upgraded Benguela rail line and the Atlantic deep‐water port of Lobito, Pensana said.

Discussions with potential financiers have commenced and it is expected that a financing package will be finalised to coincide with the completion of the PFS (scheduled for September 2019), according to the company.

Pensana said the company was of the view that, given the work that has been completed to date and the relative simplicity of the operation, it should be possible, after the PFS publication, to move immediately to a front-end engineering design contract and, then, secure an engineering procurement construction and management agreement.

Pensana Metals Chief Operating Officer, Dave Hammond, said: “The development concept is very straight forward. We are looking at a low capital cost, shallow open-pit and flotation operation producing a high-grade concentrate for export to China via the adjacent major rail and port infrastructure.

“Last month’s substantially increased mineral resource estimate has enabled us to bring forward the PFS.” This saw the company declare an inferred resource of 240 Mt at 1.60% rare earth oxides (REO), including 0.35% NdPr for 3.85 Mt of REO including 840,000 t of NdPr.

Wood Group previously undertook the scoping study for Longonjo and has an experienced rare earth mining and development team, according to Pensana.

Studies that will be part of the PFS include additional drilling, optimisation of the flotation process and comminution testwork, mining optimisation studies, a revised mineral resource estimate and detailed cost studies based on engineering design work.