The Elements of Innovation Discovered
The Elements of Innovation Discovered
Metal Tech News - October 16, 2024
Battery-grade nickel sulfate crystals produced from an awaruite nickel concentrate derived from FPX Nickel's Baptiste project in British Columbia.
Awaruite is a nickel-iron mineral that offers shows the potential for lowering the cost and environmental footprint of producing nickel for steelmaking and lithium-ion batteries.
FPX Nickel is studying the potential of building a nickel refinery at its Baptiste project about 220 miles north of Vancouver, British Columbia.
A recently completed pilot-scale program has confirmed the idea that a hydrometallurgical refinery built alongside a mine at FPX Nickel Corp.'s Baptiste project in British Columbia could offer a significant supply of low-carbon battery-grade nickel sulfate for North America's energy transition.
"Baptiste would represent an almost 50% increase to Canada's current annual nickel production, all without adding to or displacing any of Canada's nickel smelting or complex refinery capacity, thereby pioneering a uniquely low-cost, low-carbon link between mining and EV battery production," said Andrew Osterloh, senior vice president of projects and operations for FPX Nickel.
Awaruite is a nickel-iron mineral that offers shows the potential for lowering the cost and environmental footprint of producing nickel for steelmaking and lithium-ion batteries.
The ability to establish a vertically integrated mine and refinery at Baptiste with the capacity to deliver clean nickel sulfate for lithium-ion batteries powering EVs is enabled by the unique nature of the nickel mineralization found at the central B.C. project.
The more than 3.8 million metric tons (8.44 billion lb) of nickel outlined so far at Baptiste is hosted in a unique mineral known as awaruite, a natural nickel-iron alloy. This makes the nickel easier to recover and provides the opportunity to produce a high-quality nickel sulfate with less energy and a smaller carbon footprint than nickel smelted and refined from sulfide or laterite ores.
The pilot-scale testing, which was partially funded by a federal grant from Natural Resources Canada, demonstrated that hydrometallurgical refining of awaruite concentrates from Baptiste can produce a low-impurity leach solution that can be upgraded to battery-grade nickel sulfate crystals needed for lithium-ion batteries.
"The results of our hydrometallurgy refinery pilot plant testwork confirm the technical advantages of awaruite nickel mineralization to produce battery-grade nickel sulphate, further demonstrating the opportunity to develop a more streamlined nickel supply chain entirely in Canada," said Osterloh.
FPX Nickel is studying the potential of building a nickel refinery at its Baptiste project about 220 miles north of Vancouver, British Columbia.
Value engineering studies completed for FPX Nickel highlight the strategic opportunity to develop a battery metals refinery alongside a mine at Baptiste that is capable of producing 32,000 metric tons of nickel in nickel sulfate per year, which is enough battery-grade nickel for approximately 450,000 sedan-sized EVs.
The next step is to advance scoping level engineering and economic analysis of building the hydrometallurgical refinery.
"The results from our pilot plant test-work are currently being incorporated into our Awaruite Refinery Scoping Study, which will contain a detailed evaluation of capital, operating costs and the overall economics of the awaruite refinery; the study remains on track for completion in the first quarter of 2025," Osterloh said.
With more than 16 years of covering mining, Shane is renowned for his insights and and in-depth analysis of mining, mineral exploration and technology metals.
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