7th Jun 2006 10:09
Albidon Limited07 June 2006 Suite 1 Hillway House 141 Broadway Nedlands 6009ALBIDON LIMITED Western Australia ARBN 107 288 755 Tel: +61 8 9389 6300 Fax:x +61 8 9389 6400 Email:[email protected] ASX Code: ALB AIM Code: ALD via electronic lodgement Major Improvements in Grade and Recovery for Ni-Cu-Co-PGM Concentrates from theEnterprise Deposit, Zambia HIGHLIGHTS • Substantial improvements in metallurgical performance indicate the Enterprise deposit will produce excellent nickel sulphide concentrates. • Substantial increases in both grade and recovery have been achieved for all payable metals in concentrate from testing of bulk samples. • Indicative concentrate specifications are: 14% Ni, 2.4% Cu, 0.8% Co and 10g/t PGM. • At the above listed grades, nickel recovery is 80%, copper is 92.5%, cobalt is 72%, Pt is 60% and Pd is 72%. • The Fe/MgO ratio is better than 15 to 1, a considerable increase on earlier results. This makes the concentrate attractive to companies that operate flash smelters. • There is scope for further improvements in grade and recovery for all metals, and optimisation testwork is continuing. • Discussions on offtake contracts for Enterprise concentrate are continuing with a number of nickel smelting groups. Metallurgical Testwork The Munali Project (100% Albidon) is located approximately 60 kilometres southof Zambia's capital city Lusaka. The Munali Project area comprises theEnterprise Deposit and a number of other nickel prospects around the Munaliintrusion, the most advanced of which is the Voyager prospect along strike fromEnterprise. The second stage of the metallurgical testwork programme for the Enterprisedeposit has been completed. This testwork forms part of the BankableFeasibility Study ('BFS') for development of the Enterprise deposit at theMunali Nickel Project. The testwork has continued to focus on conventionalsulphide flotation of composite samples from Enterprise. The results reported here are from two 50 kilogram bulk tests using samples ofrepresentative material from the Enterprise deposit. Duplicate tests have beencompleted to verify the flotation performance and assay data. The latestresults are summarised in the following table: Ni % Cu % Co % Pd g/t Pt g/t Fe% MgO% Concentrate Grade 14.0 2.4 0.80 8.0 2.0 34.3 1.7 Recovery % 80 92.5 72 72 60 ---- ---- Feed Grade 1.35 0.14 0.08 0.91 0.25 29.0 11.1 These results are exceptional and demonstrate that a commercially attractiveconcentrate can be produced by straightforward sulphide flotation in aconventional processing plant. In addition to the excellent grade-recoveryperformance for nickel, there are important by-product credits for copper,cobalt, platinum and palladium. The high ratio of Fe to MgO (of greater than 15to 1) is an important feature of Enterprise sulphide concentrates and increasesthe attractiveness of this concentrate to companies operating flash-furnace typesmelters, particularly those whose feed is dominated by high-MgO concentrates. No deleterious or penalty elements have been identified in the analytical workcompleted to date. The improvements in grade and recovery for all payable metals provideconsiderable scope to optimise offtake revenues against product transport costs.The concentrate specifications listed in the above table will be used as inputto the Feasibility Study, which is on schedule for completion in July 2006. Forward Metallurgical Programme Metallurgical testwork is continuing with the following objectives: • Investigate increased recovery of nickel from intermediate products and tailings, • Optimisation of the recovery of copper, cobalt, platinum and palladium based on the flotation parameters that yield the optimal nickel recovery, and • Variability testwork. Discussions with Smelting Companies Expressions of interest have been received from a number of nickel smeltingcompanies in Africa, Australia, Asia and Europe. Most of these groups have nowcompleted site visits to the Munali project. Discussions are continuing withall of these companies in order to identify the concentrate offtake arrangementthat will be most beneficial to Albidon. Bankable Feasibility Study The metallurgical testwork forms a key part of the ongoing BFS for developmentof the Enterprise deposit. Progress reports on additional components of theFeasibility Study will be announced in the near future. If you have any queries please contact either Dale Rogers Managing Director ofAlbidon or the Company Secretary, Nicholas Day on +61 8 9389 6300 or [email protected]. Additional information may also be viewed on Albidon's website at www.albidon.com. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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