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Tag: nickel

Energy transition supercycle a bumpy ride for miners

Written by dev on . Posted in All News, Coal, Copper, Energy, Processing / Manufacturing.

Another commodities supercycle is on the horizon and the winners will be the industrial metals needed to electrify society, say industry analysts Wood Mackenzie.

Rather than fossil fuels leading the charge, this time commodities such as cobalt, lithium, copper, nickel, and aluminium will be in the vanguard. 

The Wood Mackenzie report ‘Champagne supercycle: Taking the fizz out of the commodities price boom’ notes that three potential developments could challenge how this commodities supercycle unfolds and who, ultimately, benefits from it. . .

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Land deal sets scene for TECH plant progress

Written by dev on . Posted in All News, Energy, Processing / Manufacturing.

A planned $550 million-plus Townsville battery materials plant is a step closer with Queensland Pacific Metals formally securing the project site.

The company, a subsidiary of Pure Minerals, has entered into a binding reservation deed with Townsville City Council for the land in theLansdown Eco-Industrial Precinct.

“The reservation deed secures the TECH (Townsville Energy Chemicals Hub) project’s home at the Lansdown Eco-Industrial Precinct," Pure Minerals chief executive officer Stephen Grocott said.

"We look forward to the TECH project becoming a cornerstone of this Townsville City Council initiative.

"QPM can now proceed with confidence with respect to. . .

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$1 trillion needed for energy transition metals

Written by dev on . Posted in All News, Copper, Energy.

More than $US1 trillion of investment will be needed in metals such as aluminium, cobalt, copper, nickel and lithium over the next 15 years to meet the growing demands of decarbonisation, according to analysts Wood Mackenzie.

This is almost double the figure invested over the previous 15 years.

“One can argue about both the pace and scale of the energy transition but the criticality of metals to its realisation is without question," Wood Mackenzie vice-chairman of metals and mining Julian Kettle said.

"Put simply, the energy transition starts and ends with metals. If you want to generate, transmit or. . .

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Sconi talks continue as battery crunch looms

Written by dev on . Posted in All News, Energy, Exploration, Processing / Manufacturing.

The clock is ticking for potential Sconi offtake partners to secure battery materials ahead of a forecast 'pinch point' for nickel supplies in 2023, says Australian Mines.

In a quarterly update the company said its priority was advancing discussions with potential offtake partners for the North Queensland cobalt-nickel-scandium project.

The market dynamics of the electric vehicle (EV) and clean energy storage industries underpinned Australian Mines’ confidence it would secure an offtake agreement for Sconi, it said.

"Potential offtake partners understand they will need to execute an offtake agreement no later than calendar 2021 to mitigate their nickel supply. . .

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Townsville battery tech proponent making headway

Written by dev on . Posted in All News, Processing / Manufacturing.

Pure Battery Technologies has acquired a commercial-scale processing operation in Germany - bringing its proposed Townsville plant a step closer.

The Queensland battery material refiner has completed its feasibility study and is seeking investment prior to construction of what it describes as a 'shovel ready' project in Townsville.

The proposed plant - expected to cost about $107 million to bring online - would process nickel in Mixed Hydroxide Precipitate (MHP) to supply battery chemicals to EV battery makers.

It is expected to create around 100 full-time jobs.

In collaboration with Cronimet, the German project in. . .

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New Century backs away from Goro nickel deal

Written by dev on . Posted in All News.

Century zinc operator New Century Resources has decided against buying into the Goro nickel and cobalt mine in New Caledonia.

The company announced today that it had elected not to proceed with a binding offer for the acquisition of 95 per cent of the issued shares in Goro owner Vale Nouvelle-Calédonie.

New Century has been engaged in an extensive process of asset due diligence and commercial negotiations since late May with Vale, the French State and other stakeholders.

It said it had also been engaging with the governing body of the Southern Province of New Caledonia regarding ongoing environmental. . .

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TECH proponent ready to kick off pilot plant work

Written by dev on . Posted in All News, Energy.

Townsville Energy Chemicals Hub proponent Pure Minerals plans to begin producing battery materials from a pilot plant by the end of 2020.

Stage one pilot plant operations are set to commence in the last quarter of this year to produce a nickel-cobalt mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP), aluminium hydroxide and saleable haematite.

Stage two piloting - scheduled for early 2021 - will refine the MHP to nickel sulphate and cobalt sulphate and the aluminium hydroxide to 4N high purity alumina (HPA).

The pilot work will be carried out at the new ALS Global Hydrometallurgy Centre of Excellence in Perth with support from. . .

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Base metals rally in progression with COVID-19

Written by dev on . Posted in All News, Copper, Processing / Manufacturing.

Base metals have hit a purple patch.

Prices firming across the suite of products were primarily the result of moves to mitigate the effects of COVID-19, said Fat Prophets analyst David Lennox.

“With the advent of COVID-19, we saw a significant collapse in the global economy and with that obviously individual economies per country,” Mr Lennox said. 

David Lennox

“To counter that. . .

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New Century still working on Goro mine deal

Written by dev on . Posted in All News, Processing / Manufacturing.

New Century Resources says it is making significant progress in evaluating technical and commercial aspects of its potential acquisition of the Goro nickel and cobalt operation.

The Goro operation includes a mine, processing facility and port located on New Caledonia, a French territory.

The successful acquisition would result in New Century, which operates Queensland Century zinc site, becoming a major supplier of nickel and non-DRC sourced cobalt for the electric vehicle industry

"To date, the due diligence process has outlined a logical and technically robust solution to simplify Goro’s operation, allowing for improved production and lower costs," the. . .

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Sun Metals and TECH team up in iron oxide study

Written by dev on . Posted in All News, Processing / Manufacturing.

Townsville zinc refinery operator Sun Metals and the proponents of the planned TECH battery chemical plant will investigate the potential to sell a joint iron oxide product.

Pure Minerals' TECH (Townsville Energy Chemicals Hub) project is expected to produce 327,000 tonnes per annum of high-grade iron oxide (haematite) as a co-product of processing nickel laterite ore for battery materials.

Pure Minerals said the expansion currently under way at the Sun Metals refinery would also see it producing an iron oxide product.

Sun Metals has entered an MOU with Pure Minerals subsidiary Queensland Pacific Metals to assess the. . .

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Musk nickel message strikes a chord with industry

Written by dev on . Posted in All News.

A plea this week from Tesla boss Elon Musk for mining companies to get out and produce nickel is music to the ears of Australian Mines managing director Benjamin Bell.

It's not that the industry has been unaware of nickel's importance as the electrical vehicle and battery storage market grows.

"It's just good now that the car manufacturers are understanding too and publicly stating it," Mr Bell said.

The independent validation coming from such comments was just what the industry needed, he said.

"It gets the message across to the banks and the other financial institutions. Elon. . .

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NQ project set to meet supercharged market

Written by dev on . Posted in All News, Energy, Processing / Manufacturing.

The electric vehicle battery market is being supercharged during the COVID-19 crisis, and a Townsville project is poised to make the most of the hot demand.

Newly appointed Pure Minerals chief executive officer Stephen Grocott said the company’s TECH battery chemicals project was well-placed to enter the fray.

It skipped the steps involved in getting a mining operation off the ground by tapping established ore sources in New Caledonia and drew on a supply and logistics chain already in place for the mothballed Queensland Nickel operation, he said.

“We can move quite quickly for what is a. . .

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State puts its money behind Sconi start

Written by dev on . Posted in All News, Processing / Manufacturing.

The Queensland Government is providing a financial leg-up for the  $1.4 billion Sconi cobalt-nickel-scandium project in North Queensland.

The amount involved remains confidential and it comes with a range of conditions, including that Sconi developer Australian Mines completes construction by July 2023.

The State financial support package comes after the Queensland Government last year granted Sconi 'prescribed project' status to streamline the approvals process.

Australian Mines has successfully completed production runs of battery-grade cobalt sulphate and nickel sulphate with ore from Sconi, near Greenvale.

The project will feature a 2Mtpa ore processing plant producing. . .

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Sconi processing delivers high-purity samples

Written by dev on . Posted in All News.

Australian Mines says it has successfully completed production runs of battery-grade cobalt sulphate and nickel sulphate with ore from its Sconi project, near Greenvale.

Demonstrating its ability to produce high-purity samples supports ongoing offtake negotiations for the planned $1.4 billion cobalt-nickel-scandium operation.

Australian Mines said today it was continuing to make good progress on these negotiations, however they were now expected to extend into the second half of 2020 due to the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

High purity on-spec cobalt sulphate and nickel sulphate crystals produced at Australian Mines' demonstration plant. . .

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Tick of approval for new industrial precinct

Written by dev on . Posted in All News, Energy, Processing / Manufacturing.

Townsville City Council has formally adopted an amendment to its planning scheme to create the new Lansdown industrial precinct at Calcium, near Woodstock.

It paves the way for a raft of major projects that have earmarked the area for their developments including Imperium3 Townsville's $3 billion lithium-ion battery plant and Pure Minerals' $554 million Townsville Energy Chemicals Hub (TECH). 

Mayor Jenny Hill said. . .

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Sconi study delivers new nickel and cobalt targets

Written by dev on . Posted in All News, Energy, Exploration.

Australian Mines has identified 14 new nickel and cobalt exploration target areas within and adjacent to its Sconi project, near Greenvale in North Queensland.

Managing director Benjamin Bell said the company's primary focus remained on securing binding offtake and financing agreements for Sconi.

However the new targets showed there was still a lot that it could do to add even more value to the battery metals project.

An independent study by SRK Consulting re-evaluated the company's drilling data alongside digital mapping data sourced from the Geological Survey of Queensland and the latest Department of Natural. . .

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