FYI Resources Ltd (ASX:FYI) has wrapped up the third successful week of its pilot plant trial with Alcoa (NYSE:AA) of Australia for the production of high purity alumina (HPA) following a three-week campaign.
The third week-long trial exceeded expectations and performed within the expected parameters, hitting all of its projected HPA target outcomes.
These pilot plant trials have been crucial to the development and commercialisation of FYI’s production process.
After the company’s continued success from last week which produced “outstanding” results (an average HPA purity of 99.9978%), the development team is now considering the requirements for a fourth week of operations.
Read: FYI Resources joint HPA trial production with Alcoa continues to deliver "outstanding" results
The collaborative efforts with Alcoa (NYSE:AA) have introduced an abundance of process refinements, as well as design features, throughout the course of the previous campaigns. These improvements are designed to create a more efficient process while increasing the overall projected economics of the project.
Sampling is the key
Samples from the extended trial will be submitted for high level Glow Discharge Mass Spectrometry (GDMS) analysis to EAG laboratories in New York for an independent review on the high accuracy and to confirm the quality of the HPA samples.
Looking ahead
The success of the last three weeks has the development team already considering what will be needed to conduct a fourth week of the trial. In order to accelerate the development schedule, redirecting resources to other HPA streams may be necessary.
FYI managing director Roland Hill said the series of extended pilot plant trials had been extremely successful in terms of its positive contribution to the HPA project development.
“We are now looking at maximising the benefit of the piloting results through redirecting our efforts towards other detailed project studies and our market outreach program in-line with our project objectives,” Hill said.
The results from the independent analysis will be the next key player in the progress of FYI’s upcoming trials.
- Written by Duncan Bailey