Mr. Cliff James reports
TVI'S PHILIPPINE AFFILIATE JOINT VENTURE NEARS COMPLETION OF DEFINITIVE FEASIBILITY STUDY ON AGATA NICKEL PROCESSING PROJECT
Agata Processing Inc., a joint venture of TVI Pacific Inc.'s Philippine affiliate, TVI Resource Development (Phils.)
Inc., expects to complete by the end of 2014 a definitive feasibility study
for a nickel processing plant at the Agata project located in
northern Mindanao, the Philippines. API is a joint venture company in
which TVIRD has the right to earn a 60-per-cent interest upon the delivery of
the DFS. The proposed nickel processing plant will use a proprietary
and innovative combination of two proven technologies that aim to
achieve maximum nickel recovery at low operating and initial capital
cost.
"Completion of the DFS is a critical milestone for TVIRD as the proposed
nickel processing plant would produce nickel at low costs and receive
feed from the same mining site as the current high-iron/low-nickel
direct shipping ore operation, creating notable cost savings and
operational synergies," stated Cliff James, chairman, president and
chief executive officer of TVI Pacific and chairman of TVIRD. "Additionally, the
completion of this study will support TVIRD's efforts to secure a
listing on the Philippine Stock Exchange, the achievement of which
could substantially enhance its investment value for TVI shareholders."
Current direct shipping ore operations are focused on the upper
zone of the Agata laterite orebody, which consists of an upper
high-iron/low nickel zone (ferruginous limonite zone), an intermediate
high-iron/medium-nickel zone (limonite zone), and a lower low-iron/medium-high-nickel zone (saprolite zone). The proposed nickel
processing facility would process ore from the lower limonite and
saprolite zones and produce a mixed hydroxide product with
approximately 40 per cent nickel content, which would be sold to the stainless
steel market under offtake agreements.
Process innovation
The process technology that TVIRD has been developing will revolutionize
the way nickel laterites are processed in the industry. Currently, the
most common technology used is high-pressure acid leach, a
process which generally requires intense upfront capital expenditures
of over $1-billion. To avoid such high capex, TVIRD has
engineered a two-stage process involving an initial atmospheric tank
leach process and a secondary low-pressure acid leach process. Combined, the capex for this two-stage process in a modular
plant that is capable of producing 7,000 tonnes of nickel equivalent
product per year is expected to range between $150-million to $200-million, a substantially lower cost, while having the same anticipated
low operating costs as HPAL. More precise figures will be announced
upon the completion of the DFS.
While both the ATL and LPAL processes on their own are well understood
and proven technologies -- ATL is used as a stand-alone process for
nickel laterite and copper oxide operations and LPAL is commonly used
in zinc processing -- this would be the first time the two processes are
combined in this order for the processing of nickel limonite and
saprolite ore.
It is expected that the DFS will be completed by the end of the year.
DFS methodology and progress
The DFS scope of work was separated into two components: (1) a
Philippine in-country component for items such as port, infrastructure,
mining, residue storage and water supply; and (2) a process plant and
acid plant component.
The in-country component was conducted by Philippine-based engineering
companies as well as the TVIRD project team to ensure that this part of
the scope is integrated optimally with the DSO project to increase
operational and cost-efficiency. Work completed to date includes the
design of: (i) a management plan that aims to integrate a staged
backfill plan with proposed mining stages while enabling progressive
rehabilitation of mining areas to take place; (ii) a leached ore
storage facility for the containment of residue generated from the ATL
processing facility; (iii) a brine management system which would treat
brine solution from the processing plant for safe discharge into the
ocean through a subsea diffuser according to the release requirements
of the Department of Energy and Natural Resources; and (iv) a water
conveyance system to provide a dedicated water supply to the operation.
The process plant and acid plant component was designed by the Beijing
General Research Institute of Mining & Metallurgy and a
prominent Chinese acid plant supplier, respectively. TVIRD selected
BGRIMM to complete the process plant design due to its reputation as an
international Chinese engineering company well experienced and
recognized as a leader in nickel processing research with access to
premium quality, cost-effective Chinese process equipment. The impact
of this selection will be significant as approximately 80 per cent of the
project capital cost is related to the process and acid plants. The
relationship with BGRIMM is further supported by its previous work on
the project, as announced in news on March 19, 2014, which involved
extensive bench- and pilot-scale testing. As such, testwork seamlessly
flowed into flow sheet development, process design and engineering, and
cost estimation with the same technology partner.
To date, process and acid plant engineering has been completed. This
design culminated in a 3-D model of the plant, with select static 3-D
images available for viewing on TVI Pacific's website. Vendor quotations for all equipment have been received and integrated
into the overall plant capital calculations. All raw materials and
reagent requirements have been determined and vendor quotations
obtained. This, together with other items such as labour costs, has
been compiled to provide the process and acid plant operating cost.
Both capital and operating costs are in line with previous indicative
expectations.
Future plans
Once the DFS has been completed, TVIRD will move into detailed plant
design and construction. The financing of plant construction,
engineering, site development and procurement are planned for 2015 with
plant construction and commissioning expected to proceed the following
year.
An indicative MHP offtake agreement has been received from BGRIMM. The
MHP pricing from this proposed agreement has been used as the basis for
the nickel product pricing in the economic model of the project.
Qualified person
Mike Bue, BScEng, MEng, PEng, technical adviser and project advisory
group member of TVI and a member of the Professional Engineers of
Ontario and Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, is the
qualified person under National Instrument 43-101 who has approved the scientific and
technical information in this news release.
Mr. Bue is supported in his role by Vincent Smith, MSc, chemical engineer,
project metallurgist, who has over 20 years of experience in
metallurgical process development, operations and design across 50 mine
sites encompassing 15 countries and was previously the group technology
manager for ENK PLC, a nickel laterite development and production
company in the Philippines.
About the Agata nickel processing project
The Agata nickel processing project is held by API, a joint venture
company in which TVIRD has the right to earn a 60-per-cent interest upon the
delivery of a definitive feasibility study, subject to TVIRD having
expended a minimum of $2-million within 12 months of the date of the
Agata processing option and joint venture agreement signed on Sept. 24, 2012, and completing the definitive
feasibility study within four years of the date of the API agreement. As
of Sept. 30, 2014, TVIRD has completed its requirement to spend a
minimum of $2-million and has earned 45 per cent of shares in API, which remain
in escrow until satisfaction of other requirements.
The project is located in Agusan del Norte province, within the Surigao
mining region on the island of Mindanao, Philippines. The Surigao
region is a major nickel producing region providing ore to processing
plants in Australia, China, Korea and Japan.
We seek Safe Harbor.
© 2024 Canjex Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.