JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Metallurgical tests conducted as part of the prefeasibility study (PFS) at ASX-listed FYI Resources’ Cadoux Kaolin project, in Western Australia, have validated the high-purity alumina (HPA) flowsheet for the project.
The outstanding metallurgical test results returned excellent leach extractions of up to 97.2% aluminium oxide. The combination of achieving 99.99% grade at a 97.2% recovery demonstrates Cadoux as being an ideal feedstock and validates the HPA flowsheet being designed and tested under the PFS, said FYI MD Roland Hill.
“FYI had accomplished the key proof of concept for the HPA strategy by achieving a purity of 99.99% alumina. The success of the strategy has now overwhelmingly been demonstrated with the achievement of 97.2% extraction of leached product.
“Rapid leach kinetics indicate an excellent metallurgical response to feedstock, leach results demonstrate ideal selective leaching of aluminium and the impressive leach recovery results based on the use of atmospheric pressure and low temperatures is very encouraging and provides the framework for favourable project economics in terms of capital costs and operating costs,” he added
FYI stated that Cadoux continues to demonstrate amenability and suitability to the production of commercial HPA using conventional processing techniques and equipment.
“We look forward to progressing the current PFS work and anticipate further positive results increasing our confidence that commercial HPA can be generated from the high-grade kaolin at Cadoux.
“The ongoing metallurgical test work is designed to understand leaching outcomes over a series of variables including feedstock variances, varying operating temperatures and leach durations to determine optimal recovery and operating ranges,” Hill concluded.