Dorfner ANZAPLAN GmbH (Germany) and Toronto-based mining consultancy Micon International Limited, both under the roof of joint venture International Limited (“M.Plan”) have been engaged by Imperial Mining Group Ltd. ("Imperial") (TSX VENTURE: IPG) to undertake Phase 2 metallurgical testwork on the Crater Lake Project scandium mineralization from the recently-discovered TG Zone (see Press Release: June 18, 2019).
The testwork will be completed on two 100 kg bulk samples collected from TG Zone diamond drill core, representing the two mineralization types encountered this past winter. Previous metallurgical work on Crater Lake mineralization showed that 100% of the scandium is contained in two common iron silicate minerals; pyroxene and amphibole. Early results showed high recovery of scandium (83.6%) using simple and inexpensive magnetic concentration methods while rejecting 34.3% of the non-scandium bearing material. ANZAPLAN testwork will attempt to improve the previously encouraging scandium recoveries and increase the non-mineralized material rejection rate.
ANZAPLAN will perform the following Phase 2 metallurgical testwork program:
- Mineralogical characterization of the two scandium-bearing bulk samples to quantify the liberation characteristics of the mineral components that make up the samples.
- Physical processing of the samples to produce high-purity pyroxene/amphibole mineral concentrates using magnetic/electromagnetic concentration methods to optimize the recovery of scandium from each bulk sample. Sensor-based ore-sorting methods will also be considered.
- Evaluate the potential impacts for the recovery of by-products (titanium, zircon, rare earths) that would supplement the high-value scandium from the mineralized material.
Peter Cashin, Imperial’s President & Chief Executive Officer said: ”This is the first step toward defining a full process flowsheet including hydrometallurgical treatment of the mineral concentrate to recover marketable scandium oxide product for scandium-aluminum alloy applications.”
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