Cobalt Blue Holdings Commissions Demonstration Plant at Broken Hill Cobalt Project, Australia
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In 2021, Cobalt Blue Holdings (COB) successfully built and operated a smaller-scale pilot plant.
This facility has now been upgraded over the last six months to increase capacity and includes all processing unit operations to treat ore to produce MHP (mixed hydroxide precipitate — typically 30 percent cobalt and 5 percent nickel), followed by refining to cobalt sulphate.
“24-hour operations will commence shortly across the entire Demonstration Plant. This reflects real progress by our technical team and will allow BHCP to ship large scale test samples during Q3, providing a strong backdrop to commercial discussions,” said COB Chairman Rob Biancardi.
COB’s demonstration plant program forms a key basis for the Broken Hill Cobalt Project (BHCP) definitive feasibility study.
Ore for the plant is being sourced from the Pyrite Hill deposit. A 60-meter long underground portal was developed to access the orebody. To date, 2,300 t of ore has been extracted. The ore has been stage crushed, followed by dry milling in a roller mill to a top size of ~ 1 mm. The fine ore is now being processed through the concentrator circuit. The concentrate circuit is comprised of rougher and cleaner gravity spirals, and a scavenger flotation cell.
COB’s target is to generate a minimum of 600 t of concentrate from 3,000 t of ore.
The pyrite concentrate will be treated using the COB patented flowsheet to recover cobalt and elemental sulphur.
The demonstration plant program is expected to operate in aggregate for 20 weeks on a 24/7 basis. The program will be split into campaigns, to allow for analysis and optimization of the plant performance. Samples of MHP and cobalt sulphate will be provided to prospective offtake parties.
The early supply of samples will assist with qualification into the battery manufacturing chain, ahead of future commercial operations at the BHCP. Samples of cobalt sulphate will also be provided to the Australian Future Batteries Industry CRC Precursor Pilot Plant.
This pilot plant opened in Perth earlier this month and is a collaborative activity with 19 industry, research and Government participants.
COB aims to produce Australian NCM (nickel manganese cobalt oxide) precursor using BHCP cobalt sulphate as a raw material input.
Source: Proactive Investors
About Cobalt Blue
Cobalt Blue is an exploration company focused on green energy technology and strategic development of the Broken Hill Cobalt Project in the far west of New South Wales. This strategic metal is in strong demand for new generation batteries, particularly lithium-ion batteries now being widely used in clean energy systems.
To stop by Cobalt Blue’s website, CLICK HERE
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