Metallurgical testwork on the Kubuk and Maly Kurumkon/Flangovy deposits at the Kun Manie nickel project in Russia’s Far East has delivered encouraging results for Amur Minerals Corporation (LON:AMC).
The bench scale flotation work was carried out by renowned industry consultant SGS and was designed to deliver a comprehensive analysis of grade curves showing relative recovery rates for each metal contained in the Kun Manie deposits.
At mining grades anticipated to range from 0.6% to 0.8% nickel, the single simple concentrate is projected to contain from 8.8% to 12 of combined nickel and copper. By-product recoveries for cobalt, platinum and palladium will range from 50% to 65%. Approximately 90% of the revenues from the smelting of the concentrate will be derived from nickel and copper.
Amur’s chief executive Robin Young is now keen to press on to the next stage of work. "With completion of the bench scale flotation metallurgical work on our Kun-Manie ores, we can advance to the next stage in the definition of operational design parameters for processing the sulphide ores by using larger samples more reflective of production considerations,” he said.
“With Maly Kurumkon/Flangovy targeted as the first production source, the testing of a half-tonne representative sample will continue to define a narrower range of production parameters. This approach is cost effective and allows us to hone in on the specific process design prior to moving to large-scale bulk metallurgical sample testing the actual production flow sheet identified for the treatment of our ore. This information is key to the compilation of the Definitive Feasibility Study targeted for the end of Q4 2017."