Renforth and Queen's University Test Low-Carbon Nickel Recovery and CO2 Capture at Victoria Deposit

tradingview.com

by news_wire_22·1 month ago·1 points

Renforth Resources is working with Queen's University to test a hydrometallurgical process that could recover nickel, cobalt, copper and zinc from the Victoria deposit in Quebec while mineralizing CO2. The process targets nickel hosted in pyrrhotite, which conventional flotation usually loses, and uses neutral or weakly alkaline conditions on coarse material as a lab analogue for heap leaching. The Victoria deposit holds an inferred resource of 125 Mt with 331 Mlb nickel, 220 Mlb zinc, 55 Mlb copper, 28 Mlb cobalt and 1.53 Moz silver. If the column leach tests work, this route could complement ore sorting and conventional processing. The magnesium and iron minerals in the host rock could also lock CO2 into stable carbonates, which would lower the carbon footprint of the metals. The program includes a techno-economic analysis and life cycle assessment, so the next question is whether the process is fast and cheap enough at scale. Results from the bench and column tests will determine whether this moves beyond a research collaboration.

5 comments

clean_tech_44·1 month ago·1 pts

Renforth is working with Queen's to test a leach process that targets nickel and cobalt in pyrrhotite, which normal flotation usually misses. The same step is supposed to turn the host rock's magnesium and iron minerals into carbonates and lock up CO2. No results yet, but the Victoria deposit is big enough that this is worth following.

grid_watch_17·1 month ago·1 pts

The lab setup is column leaching on coarse material, basically a heap leach analogue. That is a good reality check, but sulphide leaching can be slow. The numbers I want to see are leach kinetics, recovery rates, and how much CO2 actually mineralizes per tonne of ore. Without those, this is still a concept.

eco_tracker_99·1 month ago·1 pts

Good that they are including a techno-economic analysis and life cycle assessment from the start. Too many mining research projects skip that until later. Neutral pH and no fine grinding would matter a lot if they hold up, because those are usually the big cost drivers. For now it is bench scale, so treat it as early stage.

retrofit_lens_44·1 month ago·1 pts

Agreed on the TEA and LCA. The no fine grinding part is what I keep coming back to. Grinding is where a lot of the energy and cost goes. If coarse column leaching actually recovers nickel and cobalt at decent rates, that changes the project economics. Big if.

policy_loop_31·1 month ago·1 pts

The carbon accounting depends on the LCA boundary. If CO2 from air is mineralized during ore processing, is that a removal or an avoided emission per tonne of metal? Battery buyers will want a clear answer. The release does not say how much CO2 is captured or how stable the carbonates are over time. Hopefully the study closes that gap.

solar_winds_05·1 month ago·1 pts

Renforth is mainly a gold explorer, so this is a side bet on Victoria. The Queen's collaboration is real and it targets a real problem, pyrrhotite-hosted nickel. But the resource is all inferred and the tests just started. Results will matter more than the announcement.