Canada Silver Cobalt Begins Testwork at Granada Gold Mine, Canada
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Canada Silver Cobalt Works and Granada Gold Mines reported that Canada Silver Cobalt has begun preliminary test work at SGS, Lakefield, Canada on mineralized material from the Granada Gold Mine in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec.
The planned test work was announced earlier this year after Granada Gold found the unexpected discovery of a rare earth and alkali metals deposit at the Granada property in Quebec during exploration for gold.
Rubidium, one of the discovered alkali metals, showed particularly high assays and potential value based on quoted market prices and therefore is an important part of the focus of the Re-2Ox test work.
Rubidium has numerous applications in various industries including in sodium-ion batteries which may see significant growth ahead due to their reported cost-effectiveness as stationary energy storage for homes, the grid, and data centers.
“Granada currently expects that rubidium will be treated as a zero-cost, by-product alkali metal recovery from Granada’s gold mineralized resource. The preliminary test program will evaluate the potential recovery of rubidium mineralization and the subsequent amenability of the Re-2Ox process for the leaching and production of rubidium salts. Granada Gold intends to review the viability of suppling rubidium salts as a by-product of gold processing for evaluation into the new fast-evolving sodium-ion storage battery market,” said Frank J. Basa, P.Eng., CEO.
Planned Re-2Ox Testing
A 10-kilogram drill core sample was sent to SGS, Lakefield for mineralogical studies to identify the minerals associated with rubidium. The studies indicated so far that rubidium is likely in the micas and/or K-feldspars. Analytical results returned a grade of 1,238.5 ppm for rubidium. Distinct rubidium minerals do not commonly occur in nature and are almost always associated with feldspars and micas.
The test program at SGS will be undertaken in two stages. The first stage will consist of straight forward flotation followed by leaching using the Re-2Ox process. The second stage is straight leaching using the Re-2Ox process. The test program was developed to target rubidium in the mineralized zones.
Rubidium in Sodium-Ion Batteries
Rubidium salts have been commonly used as an electrolyte to improve the efficiency cycle of sodium-ion batteries. In recent years, it has been implemented into a larger scale for further technological advances to improve the performance rate and better cyclability in the batteries. Sodium-ion batteries have demonstrated about half the energy density of lithium-ion batteries and have applications as stationary storage like renewable energy for homes and the grid or backup power for data centers, where cost is more important than size and energy density. Currently available information places the cost of sodium-ion batteries to be about 10–20 percent less than lithium-ion batteries.
Sodium-ion batteries use abundant, cheap, and benign materials. In the earth’s crust there is over one-thousand times more sodium than lithium. It also costs less to extract and purify. Sodium metal oxide cathodes are typically used in batteries and the anodes are carbon just like lithium-ion batteries but can be made from plentiful metals such as iron and manganese. The Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency — Energy in September 2020 awarded Santa Clara, California-based Natron Energy $19.9 million as part of a new program to fast-track technologies, with the goal of advancing their commercialization efforts. The batteries are now in low-volume commercial production. Natron’s first customers are data centers and telecom companies. Sodium-ion batteries are also more stable and safer than lithium-ion. They have a wider temperature range, are nonflammable, and do not have thermal runaway.
About Canada Silver Cobalt Works
Canada Silver Cobalt Works, a unique and rapidly growing silver-cobalt focused company, is an exploration, development, technology, and environment leader in the prolific Northern Ontario Silver-Cobalt District.
To stop by Canada Silver Cobalt Works’ website, CLICK HERE
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