TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Vancouver-based Hard Creek Nickel has contracted Norilsk Process Technology to determine the viability of using Norilsk's Activox technology to extract nickel and cobalt from concentrate produced at Hard Creek's Turnagain project, in British Columbia.

The Activox technology, which has yet to be employed on a commercial scale, is a patented hydrometallurgical process that recovers nickel and copper metal from sulphide concentrates.

Norilsk Nickel, the world's biggest producer of nickel and palladium, acquired the technology when it bought Canada's LionOre Mining in 2007.

The concentrate for the test work will be produced at the G&T Metallurgical Services Laboratory in Kamloops, British Columbia, in March this year, Hard Creek said.

The company indicated in November that it was looking for a partner for the Turnagain project.

To subscribe to Mining Weekly's print magazine email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or buy now.