Andromeda Metals Ltd (ASX:ADN, OTC:ANDMF) has progressed plans to produce the high-value critical mineral, high-purity alumina (HPA) from kaolin sourced at The Great White Project (TGWP) in South Australia.
Test work carried out by external consultants has confirmed that kaolin from TGWP is ideally suited for making HPA, due to its high alumina content and exceptionally low levels of alkali and alkaline earth metals.
Andromeda has recently recommenced test work to assess the potential viability of its novel flowsheet aimed at producing HPA using kaolin from the high-quality TGWP feedstock.
4N HPA produced
Recent lab-scale tests undertaken to prove up the novel process, have produced HPA to 99.99% purity (4N HPA).
The successful lab tests confirm the novel process overcomes several inherent problems normally associated with other published processes for producing HPA from kaolin.
As a result of achieving refined 4N HPA at a laboratory scale, Andromeda will now progress to the next phase of test work on HPA. This includes running a more rigorous continuous test program for creation of samples for bulk analysis.
“Significant de-risking”
Andromeda’s CEO and managing director Bob Katsiouleris said: “These results are encouraging and represent a significant de-risking of Andromeda’s proprietary process to produce HPA.
"The positive results underpin our plans to produce HPA using the high-quality kaolin feedstock from The Great White Project.
"The novel process offers the prospect of commercially producing 4N HPA economically, at scale.”
A critical mineral
An international Patent Co-operation Treaty (PCT) application covering the innovative process has recently been filed by Andromeda.
The company is keen to pursue this opportunity with HPA listed on Australia’s Critical Minerals List as a high-value product with an increasing use in the manufacturing of LED lights, synthetic sapphire glass, semiconductors and lithium-ion batteries.
Kaolin in ceramic tiles
Andromeda is assessing a number of value opportunities for product from TGWP and this month has welcomed the findings of a report by the Institute of Ceramic Technology (ITC) at the University of Castellan in Spain, which found the company’s Great White CRM™ has potential to displace zircon in ceramic tiles.
“The study carried out has allowed us to conclude that the use of Great White CRM kaolin in porcelain tile compositions increase their whiteness with respect to standard kaolins," the ITC report stated.
“The same improvement is observed when zircon is used, although the increase depends on the percentage of zircon.
“Therefore, the main conclusion of this study is that the use of Great White CRM kaolin in porcelain tile composition can reduce zircon content in percentages of up to 20% depending on the whiteness to be achieved and the mixture of raw materials used.”