Canada Nickel updates Crawford Project and Pilot Plant Operation
“We believe there remains significant optimization potential at Crawford, which is supported with today’s metallurgical results on the East Zone that produced a high grade concentrate from a blended East Zone sample and 10 further metallurgical tests from the existing starter pit area that averaged 28% higher recovery than currently modelled in the feasibility study," said Mark Selby, Canada Nickel CEO.
"Our Front End Engineering Design work that started in April is progressing well and continues to identify further optimization opportunities.”
Canada Nickel Company Inc. announced the successful completion of further metallurgical testing on Crawford East Zone material.
Mr. Selby continued, “The pilot plant at SGS Lakefield is more than four times the size of our prior plant that was used in 2022, and is focused on using East Zone material to generate substantial quantities of nickel and NiCr magnetite concentrate to be utilized by our NetZero Metals downstream business. The plant began commissioning during the past week and is expected to operate until September.”
Crawford Nickel Sulphide Project East Zone Metallurgical Variability Program
A metallurgical variability program was initiated at the start of 2024 in order to increase confidence in the recovery and concentrate quality estimates and evaluate optimization opportunities for the East Zone. To date, 10 open circuit tests and one locked cycle test have been completed on samples from the East Zone which are indicating potential for improvements in the East Zone nickel recovery equations.
Table 1 summarizes the results from the locked cycle test which was completed on a composite of samples taken from the Feasibility Study, East Zone starter pit. The composite had a head grade of 0.29% nickel, 0.04% sulphur, 5.1% iron and contained heazlewoodite-awaruite style mineralization. The composite delivered a total nickel recovery of 47% which exceeded the modelled recovery target by 9% or 4 percentage points of recovery. The composite also supported the potential for high grade concentrate production as the nickel sulphide concentrate product graded 60% nickel. The magnetic recovery circuit also performed well as the iron recovery fell within 1 percentage point of the modelled recovery and the chromium recovery exceeded the modelled recovery by 3 percentage points and the concentrate grade target was achieved.
In addition to this locked cycle test result, 10 open circuit variability tests on samples from the East Zone were successfully completed. Of the initial 10 new samples that have been tested in 2024, eight of the samples exceeded the modelled total nickel recovery. The average difference between achieved and modelled recoveries for the 10 samples was 28% higher or 10 percentage points above modelled. Nickel and NiCr concentrate grades were in line with expectations and consistent with feasibility study models.
Figure 1. Crawford Nickel Sulphide Project - East Zone Open Cycle Tests
Table 2. Crawford Nickel Sulphide Project - Summary of New Open Circuit Test Results for East Zone Starter Pit
Pilot Plant Program
Canada Nickel is completing a 130 tonne mineral processing pilot plant program at SGS Lakefield. The program will see the full process flowsheet piloted and is being completed to generate samples of concentrate for NetZero Metals and provide additional data to support the engineering of the project. Updates will be provided as the project progresses.
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