FYI Resources Ltd (ASX:FYI) has commenced the third high purity alumina (HPA) extended pilot plant campaign, in joint development with Alcoa (NYSE:AA) of Australia.
This extended series of one-week pilot plant runs are designed to incorporate various process and operating refinements for trial with the objective to further enhance and optimise FYI’s innovative, HPA refining process.
The success of the first two extended pilot plant trials continued to increase the development team's understanding of operating conditions of the process flowsheet.
The aim of the joint FYI and Alcoa project is to produce high-purity HPA for the high-tech product market.
Different operating objectives
This week-long trial will have similar operating conditions as the previous two trials, however with minor refinements to provide different operating objectives variability and optimising test-work.
The trial will operate on a 24/7 basis from January 18 to 25.
Process improvements achieved as a result of these pilot plant trials are anticipated to add significant value to the project through enhancements to the flowsheet and resulting reductions in capital and operating costs.
Marketing program
In addition, the series of extended pilot plant trials are crucial to the joint development marketing program via the generation of high-quality HPA that is representative of the proposed commercial product.
The pilot plant trials are not a condition precedent to the project joint venture.
FYI will keep the market updated regarding the progress of the third trial run as well as the subsequent analytical results.
Previous trial
The company, which is collaborating with Alcoa, is moving beyond the halfway point of four week-long trials of its high purity alumina pilot plant, with the results so far robust and supporting project objectives.
Results were described as "outstanding" from the second week of the HPA pilot plant trial with an average purity of 99.9978% recorded from the samples delivered following the week-long campaign.