Panther Metals Ltd (ASX:PNT), which is 36.6%-owned by Panther Metals PLC (LSE:PALM), has returned positive high-pressure acid leach (HPAL) test work results from the Coglia nickel-cobalt project in Western Australia.
The Coglia Nickel-Cobalt Project has taken an important step forward with the inaugural metallurgical testwork providing very encouraging results,” said Darren Hazelwood, chief executive of Panther Metals PLC in a statement.
“High-pressure acid leaching is the preferred treatment option for nickel laterite ores and this initial round of HPAL metallurgical study has shown the final recovery of 92.6% nickel, which falls comfortably within the industry-accepted processing recovery range of between 90-95% recovery. Additionally, most of the higher nickel grades are in the finer size fractions, which with further study may prove that beneficiation processes such as scrubbing, cyclones and/or screening could potentially remove the need for milling," he added.
Panther Australia reports that while the focus for the next phase of exploration at Coglia remains on drilling and expanding the current resource, it will continue to carry out further testing and studies in parallel to support a future pre-feasibility study, including further HPAL bench test work programmes.
The operational focus of Panther Metals PLC remains on its portfolio of Canadian exploration assets, in particular Obonga and Dotted Lake.