Amur Minerals advances towards the addition of copper to the Kun-Manie product suite

Amur Minerals advances towards the addition of copper to the Kun-Manie product suite

Proactive Investors

Published

Amur Minerals advances towards the addition of copper to the Kun-Manie product suite Amur Minerals Corporation (LON:AMC) has revealed the results of metallurgical tests conducted on the Kun-Manie nickel sulphide project by consultant Gipronickel with a view to establishing the feasibility of generating a saleable copper concentrate.  Kun-Manie is located in the Amur Oblast in the far east of Russia. Successful generation of a copper concentrate could positively and materially enhance the project economics, as all previously reported concentrate sale options within the February 2019 pre-feasibility study excluded any consideration for copper derived revenues. Based on available historical metallurgical test results and additional H2 19 bench scale test work, a metallurgical processing flowsheet was identified for processing a ten tonne representative bulk sample (containing 0.76% nickel) proportionately derived from the planned mining areas. Sample splits from the bulk sample have been processed utilising varying operating parameters and differing ratios of reagents to identify the optimal flowsheet.  Gipronickel reports nickel recovery over the life of the mine will be in the order of 79.5% yielding a bulk concentrate containing 7.91% nickel.  For copper, a recovery of 82.9% is projected with the bulk concentrate averaging 2.12% copper.  Going forward, test work on the bulk concentrate derived from the ten tonne bulk sample is now being conducted to determine if a separate saleable copper concentrate can be generated in addition to that of a nickel concentrate.  "The current phase of work could well provide a substantial upgrade to economic potential of the project,” said Amur chief executive Robin Young.  “Work is underway to determine the ability to generate separate copper and nickel concentrates.  A saleable copper concentrate would substantially enhance project revenues as all previous work has been based on nickel only derived revenues.  Important information such as the copper and other metal contents and the composition of the included waste minerals within the copper concentrate will enable us to determine the full economic impact on the overall project economics and most importantly, allow for identification of specific copper stream purchasers."

Full Article