NioCorp announced last September the successful conclusion of five metallurgical pilot plant runs that have tested the Company’s Scandium, Niobium, and Titanium production operations under continuous conditions. These pilot plants were constructed and operated at the SGS Lakefield Research facility in Canada.
Two of the pilots involved separate one-week runs of a Scandium Solvent Extraction Circuit, a conventional technology that would be used in the Company’s flagship Elk Creek Project production process to separate and concentrate Scandium. The first pilot was completed in July, and the second pilot was competed in August. Scandium losses were less than 1% when averaged over the two weeks of operation, representing excellent performance for a solvent extraction operation. These results will be combined with data from upstream and downstream metallurgical results to determine, through follow-on testing, the ultimate recovery of Scandium to a final commercial product.
“I am extremely pleased with the rapid progress that has been made in completing numerous metallurgical pilot plants over the past two months,” said Scott Honan, President of Elk Creek Resources Corporation, the wholly-owned NioCorp subsidiary that is developing the Elk Creek Project. “The pilot plants have demonstrated our ability to run key Scandium, Niobium, and Titanium production processes on a continuous basis, and have provided critical data that will allow our engineering design team to complete design work in these areas of the Elk Creek Project.”
The Company is now proceeding toward its final pilot plants necessary to complete the Elk Creek Project Feasibility Study, including those related to regenerating and recycling acid used in the Elk Creek Project production process and additional Scandium recovery and purification operations.
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