INDUSTRY BIAS ?I've read several other nickel junior reports, not once have i come
across the words practical entitlement.
Nor, difficulties with typical silicates.
Take for instance, Timmins Cadillac region.
Infamous for Dunite, Nickel.
XPS has performed MET tests for several junior's.
Let's first establish if Dunites are Peridotites.
dunite is an ultrabasic igneous rock dominated by essential olivine (>90% volume), often with accessory clinopyroxene, orthopyroxene, spinel, ilmenite, and magnetite. Dunite is usually coarse- to medium grained and is a peridotite.
Peridotites are a group of ultrabasic igneous rocks containing more than
40 vol% olivine with or without orthopyroxene and clinopyroxene
There you have it.
NCP reclassified the Wellgreen as having majority Peridotite, which
can include, many forms - based on morphology of the silicate / olivines.
So why is it...
Wellgreen has a practical entitlement handicap ?
Along with = No iron credit
XPS can't deal with Wellgreen silicates ?
2012 xps could
2015 xps could
2023 Phase 1 proved they could
2023 PFS practical entitlement
ASTON MINERALS
EDLESTON DEPOSIT - XPS MET STUDIES
XPS Expert Process Solutions, a Glencore company, is located at the XPS Technology Centre in
Falconbridge (Ontario), Canada, and comprises a team of world-class metallurgists, engineers,
geoscientists, technicians and technologists with real world experience in process
development/optimisation, asset integrity management and mine/process automation.
The Edleston Project is located approximately 60km via road to the
south of Timmins, Ontario, Canada.
Regionally, Edleston appears to lie along the potential western
extension of the Cadillac-Larder fault zone
The host rock is an altered and sheared
ultramafic that exhibits extensive silicification and contains quartz-
carbonate in veins, veinlets and fracture fill.
Nickel sulphide mineralisation at these deposits was formed through
the serpentinisation of a dunite unit (rock composed of >90%olivine).
Four acid digest ICP total digestion was utilised.
ICP total digestion method involved analysis of a pulp by gently
heating in a mixture of ultrapure HF/HNO 3/HClO 4 until dry and the
residue dissolved in dilute ultrapure HNO 3.
( wango ) their cores saw total digestion = wellgreen partial
Hydrofluoric acid and Nitric = wellgreen didn't.
i read wellgreen sent in 1/4 cores for assaying.
greater the amount of core = better analysis
Diamond drill core was cut in half. Half the core was submitted for
metallurgical analysis.
The Boomerang Target is interpreted to be a Dunite/Peridotite unit which has undergone extensive serpentinisation. This process of is responsible for the reaction of olivine to produce magnetite and brucite, resulting in a strongly reducing environment whereby nickel is released from decomposition of olivine.
A 30kg sample of mineralisation from DDED21-076 was submitted for analysis with the head grade of the analysed sample approximating the overall nickel-cobalt abundance of the entire mineralised interval.
The mineralised interval for DDED21-076 is a total of 163.5m at 0.51% Ni and 0.016% Co
Table 1: Metallurgical Sample Head Grade Analysis
Hole Ni% Co% S% Fe% MgO%
DDED21-076 0.53 0.016 0.98 6.00 40.2
( wango ) that's significant MgO to deal with, yet xps could still
produce a concentrate.
Open circuit flotation testwork on the composite sample from DDED21-076 at
grind size of 80% passing (P80) 120μm produced a concentrate grade of:
• 11.29% Ni, 0.37% Co, 24% S, 38.2% Fe and 8.2% MgO
READ MORE
https://www.investi.com.au/api/announcements/aso/dd411f0b-b0a.pdf
Takeaways ?
No practical entitlement
Dunites = Serpentines = Peridotites
Aston has lots of MgO yet, xps could still produce a concentrate
1/2 core assaying - could create better head grades
Better acids assaying ( Hydro Fluro + Nitric )
Full digestion
CNC - Golden Boy Selby,
has great xps recoveries with a bonus magnetite credit.
Take away their iron credit and where would the project be ?
Aston recieves ( great ) MET studies from xps
Wellgreen,
no iron credit
dismiss phase one xps bulk concentrate recoveries no issue with peridotites.
slap a practical entitlement = nearly cancels out minerals in silicates 300 mil tonnes
phase 2 move away from bulk concentrate = lessor recoveries
= handicaps ( not quite fair )
Could there be industry bias ?
Projects closer to Sudbury recieve better MET studies ?
You decide.
If NCP revamped 2023 pfs to,
bulk concentrates ( all metals in ) with no practical entitlement
using phase 1 xps
436 mil tonnes now has no practical entitlement tether
throw an iron credit in perhaps a MgO, too
include second phase recapture of PG's in magnetites
include exotics
= it would put Timmin's area nickel projects to shame.
OWN Opinion.