High-grade ferronickel was successfully produced from Decar awaruite concentrate samples by application of proven and widely-used processes, thereby demonstrating potential amenability of Decar products to processing in existing ferronickel plants. These results represent a key advancement in demonstrating the potential for market acceptance of the Project's concentrate. Test work completed to date demonstrates that smelting Decar concentrates on a stand-alone basis, with the addition of a reductant and fluxing agents, produces a high-grade product of 35% - 50% nickel, comparing favourably to typical ferronickel products containing 15% - 40% nickel. An alternative process route mixing Decar concentrates with saprolite ore at a pre-smelting, kiln reduction stage also gave positive results, but these are more preliminary in nature.

 

"These bench-scale results indicate the potential amenability of Decar's nickel-iron-chromite concentrate to downstream processing using conventional smelting technologies. This represents an important step towards introduction into the market of this new intermediate product derived from Decar or other awaruite deposits. We are encouraged that the veryhigh nickel recoveries achieved, 94% to 99%-plus, for both a stand-alone awaruite concentrate and a mixed awaruite-saprolite calcine, along with strong iron recoveries, suggests the possibility of robust nickel and by-product payability as awaruite-based concentrates gain traction in the marketplace," said Jim Gilbert, President and CEO of First Point.

 

The Decar concentrate, as announced previously, is a nickel-iron-chromite concentrate produced by magnetic separation of awaruite-bearing material followed by gravity concentration. This represents a new product to be sold into the ferronickel-to-stainless steel production chain. As such, the testing program evaluating smelting performance of the concentrate targeted two possible treatment scenarios: