Evrima Plc Investee Update: PNR Selkirk Metallurgical Study Results
August 25 2022 - 2:00AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMEVA
25 August 2022
Evrima plc
("Evrima" or the "Company")
Investee Update: Premium Nickel Resources Ltd Reports Results of Selkirk
Metallurgical Study, Identifies Significant PGE Content in Concentrate
Evrima is pleased to provide an update on its investee company, Premium Nickel
Resources Ltd ("PNRL" or "Premium Nickel")(TSX-V: PNRL) in respect of results
from PNRL's 100% owned Selkirk nickel-copper-cobalt-platinum group elements
("Ni-Cu-Co-PGE") sulphide mine in Botswana. Evrima currently holds 1,114,115
shares in PNRL, and Evrima investee, Eastport Ventures Inc. (in which Evrima
owns 6.85%, with share purchase warrants which, if exercised, would result in
it holding 10% of Eastport's Issued Share Capital) owns 2,898,500 shares in
PNRL.
Premium Nickel Resources Ltd. reports results of a Metallurgical study at its
Selkirk nickel-copper-cobalt-platinum group elements sulphide Mine in Botswana,
which has identified significant PGE content in Concentrate
A copy of the source press release for Premium Nickel, can be found here and is
reproduced in full below:
Toronto, Ontario, August 24, 2022 - Premium Nickel Resources Ltd. (formerly,
North American Nickel Inc.) (TSXV:PNRL) ("Premium Nickel" or the "Company") is
pleased to announce is pleased to report the results of the Company's 2021
metallurgical study completed at its 100% owned Selkirk nickel-copper-cobalt-
platinum group elements ("Ni-Cu-Co-PGE") sulphide Mine in Botswana.
The objective of this initial 2021 metallurgical study was to assess if readily
marketable copper and nickel concentrates could be produced and, if so, at what
metal recovery levels. The Selkirk test program followed a similar program
conducted on samples from the Selebi Mine, which demonstrated potential for
these metallurgical objectives to be achieved.
Highlights of the metallurgical study include:
* Ability to produce salable market nickel and copper concentrates
* Nickel concentrate grade of 10% nickel and 6% copper
* Copper concentrate grade of 33% copper, 0.32% nickel
* Recoveries of 63% nickel, 85% copper
* Concentrates clean of deleterious elements and with low (<1%) MgO levels
* Attractive amounts of PGE present in the concentrates
+ 36.0 g/t Pd in copper concentrate
+ 9.0 g/t Pd in nickel concentrate
Keith Morrison, CEO, commented:
"The results from the Selkirk metallurgical studies provide important support
for our re-development plan to produce separate copper and nickel-cobalt
commercial concentrates. Previous non-compliant economic studies at Selkirk by
Tati Nickel Mining Company, were based on the production of a low-grade
concentrate that would be transported approximately 185 kilometres to the
Phikwe smelter formerly operated by BCL. The closing of the BCL smelter in 2015
was a primary contributor to the closure of the parastatal Ni-Cu-Co-PGE Tati
Nickel Mining Company.
This metallurgical study was an important step for PNRL to determine the
potential value of the Selkirk deposit. This study also indicated the potential
PGE content of the nickel and copper concentrates. We will continue to run
additional metallurgical testing as the project moves forward and apply data
driven best practices in all of our activities that are environmentally sound
and that ultimately provide for a sustainable future."
The Selkirk Mine:
The Selkirk Mine is situated 28 kilometres south-east of the town of
Francistown, and 75 kilometres north of the Company's 100% owned Selebi Mine.
The Selkirk Mine was acquired through an asset purchase agreement with the
Liquidator of Tati Nickel Mining Company (see news release dated August 22,
2022). In addition to the metallurgical sampling, the company has been
collecting additional information and conducting geological due diligence by
examining the underground workings, reviewing mineralized drill core,
collecting DGPS coordinates of drill collars and data verification of
information in databases. The Company intends to include these findings in its
NI 43-101 report expected to be completed by the end of 2022.
Key results of the 2021 metallurgical study are summarized below. Further
details including sample preparation, methodology, technical definitions and
modal analyses, as well as liberation, association and exposure characteristics
can be found in the report of SGS Canada, a copy of which is available on
PNRL's website. https://premiumnickelresources.ca/projects/botswana/
selkirk-mine/overview/
Samples used for the 2021 metallurgical study were collected from 2016 core
(HQ: 63.5mm), sawn in half, and sent to SGS Canada in Lakefield, Ontario, where
each sample was analyzed for nickel, copper and sulphur for the purpose of
creating the low and high-grade composite samples for metallurgical testing.
At SGS Canada, low-grade composites and high-grade composites were prepared
from semi continuous intervals to represent potential open pit and underground
ore types. The low grade composite had 36, 1 metre intervals from 63.24 metre
downhole to 136.37 metres while the high grade composite had 20, 1 metre
intervals from 126.67 metres to 176.67 metres. The grades of the two composites
are shown in Table 1.
Element Unit Low-Grade High-Grade
Composites Composites
Cu % 0.55 0.66
Ni % 0.44 0.77
Ni(s) % 0.41 0.75
Fe % 12.7 20.1
S % 5.76 10.5
Si % 16.3 13.4
Au g/t 0.07 0.08
Pt g/t 0.18 0.37
Pd g/t 0.82 1.28
Rh g/t < 0.02 < 0.02
Table 1: Head assays for PNRL Test Program
A subsample from each of the low-grade composite and the high-grade composite
was submitted for QEMSCAN (Quantitative Evaluation of Minerals by Scanning
Electron Microscopy) mineralogy at a grind size of 80% passing 129 ?m and 99 ?
m, respectively. The major sulphide minerals were identified as chalcopyrite,
pentlandite (Pn), pyrrhotite (Po), with trace amounts of pyrite. About 80-85%
of the nickel was contained in pentlandite, and the remaining nickel 12-15% was
mostly hosted by pyrrhotite in solid solution. Minor amounts of nickel (3%)
were hosted by non-sulphide gangue minerals. The Po:Pn ratio was 10:1.
The liberation of chalcopyrite was good for both composites, with 74-83% free
and liberated, but pentlandite was poorly liberated, with 46-55% free and
liberated, at the grind size submitted for mineralogy. Pentlandite liberation
was poor above 53 microns and very good for the - 20 micron fraction. The use
of regrinding is critical to fully liberate flame pentlandite from pyrrhotite
to maximize the nickel recovery and grade.
A full suite of comminution tests were conducted on the 2 composites. The
Selkirk samples were confirmed to be considered hard to very hard.
A limited number of batch tests were conducted prior to Locked Cycle Testing
("LCT") to demonstrate the process and provide a metallurgical projection for
the low grade sample. The locked cycle test is a series of batch laboratory
tests conducted in sequence to simulate plant results. Figures 2 shows the LCT
flow sheet and Table 2 shows the test results at each stage. Figures may be
viewed using the link provided with this news release.
Nickel concentrate (combined Copper Rougher Scavenger Tails and Pyrrhotite 3rd
Cleaner Concentrate), having a grade of 10% nickel and containing approximately
6% copper, was achieved. The nickel recovery was reasonably good at 63%.
The recovery of copper was reasonable, achieving 55% to the copper concentrate
and 85% recovery between the two concentrates. High grade copper concentrate
was achieved at 33% copper. The low nickel content (0.32% nickel) in the copper
concentrate was also achievable.
Attractive amounts of platinum group elements were present in the concentrates
with no obvious deleterious elements. The flotation test work also demonstrated
that a Pyrrhotite Rougher Scavenger Tailings with a low sulfur content (<1%)
was achievable. It is notable that this was a quickly executed test program
aimed at demonstrating what level of metallurgy may be possible.
Total recoveries are obtained by adding the distributions in the two
concentrates.
Table 2. Combined LCT-4 and LCT-5 Results for the Selkirk Low-Grade Sample -
Metallurgical Projection
Product Assay
Weight Cu Ni S Pt Pd Au
% % % % g/t g/t g/t
Cu 0.9 33.2 0.32 34.4 1.79 36.0 5.03
Concentrate
Cu Ro Scav 2.3 5.88 10.3 33.1 3.65 7.96 1.59
Tail
Po 3rd Cl 0.4 5.03 10.5 36.5 5.91 14.4 1.50
Conc
Po 1st Cl 13.3 0.20 0.75 22.6 0.23 0.57 0.06
Tails
Po Ro Scav 4.0 0.12 0.53 25.1 0.25 0.54 0.06
Conc
Po Rougher 79.1 0.05 0.05 0.59 0.08 0.20 0.03
Tail
Combined. 2.7 5.74 10.3 33.7 4.02 9.0 1.58
Ni
Concentrate
(Cu Ro Scav
Tails + Po
3rd Cl
Conc)
Head 100 0.49 0.44 5.72 0.23 0.83 0.12
(Calc.)
Product % Distribution
Weight Cu Ni S Pt Pd Au
% % % % g/t g/t g/t
Cu 0.9 54.6 0.7 5.7 7.3 40.1 38.8
Concentrate
Cu Ro Scav 2.3 27.1 52.2 13.0 36.1 21.6 30.0
Tail
Po 3rd Cl 0.4 4.5 10.4 2.8 11.4 7.7 5.5
Conc
Po 1st Cl 13.3 5.4 22.3 52.5 13.7 9.1 7.0
Tails
Po Ro Scav 4.0 1.0 4.8 17.8 4.5 2.6 2.1
Conc
Po Rougher 79.1 7.4 9.7 8.2 27.0 18.9 16.6
Tail
Combined Ni 2.7 31.6 62.5 15.8 47.5 29.3 35.6
Concentrate
(Cu Ro Scav
Tails + Po
3rd Cl
Conc)
Head 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
(Calc.)
The copper and nickel concentrates were found to be clean with little MgO (<1%)
nor minor deleterious elements (i.e., As, Bi, Pb, Se, Te, Cl, F, Hg etc.) close
to penalty levels. The Cu Scavenger Tail assayed 0.64% Co which is well into
the payable range for Nickel concentrates. The Co level in the copper
concentrate was very low at 176 g/t.
The current program was an acceptable demonstration of what the metallurgy
could be for the Selkirk deposit. It is envisioned that there will be 3 to 4
more phases in metallurgical development.
Qualified Person
The scientific and technical content of this news release has been reviewed and
approved by Phillip Mackey, PhD, P. Eng., Metallurgical Consultant, who is a
"qualified person" for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 - Standards
of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.
The Directors of Evrima accept responsibility for this announcement.
This announcement contains information which, prior to its disclosure, was
inside information as stipulated under Regulation 11 of the Market Abuse
(Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019/310 (as amended).
Ends -
Enquiries :
Company:
Burns Singh Tennent-Bhohi (CEO & Director): burns@evrimaplc.com
Simon Grant-Rennick (Executive Chairman): simon@evrimaplc.com
Novum Securities Limited (AQSE Corporate Adviser):
David Coffman / Lucy Bowden: + 44 (0) 20 7399 9400
About Premium Nickel Resources Ltd.
PNRL is a Canadian company dedicated to the exploration and development of
high-quality nickel-copper + cobalt resources. PNRL believes that the medium to
long-term demand for these metals will continue to grow through global
urbanization and the increasing replacement of internal combustion engines with
electric motors. Importantly, these metals are key to a low-carbon future.
PNRL maintains a skilled team with strong financial, technical and operational
expertise to take an asset from discovery to exploration to mining.
PNRL has focused its efforts on discovering world class nickel sulphide assets
in jurisdictions with rule-of-law that fit a strict criteria that comply with
PNRL's values and principles which stand up and surpass the highest acceptable
industry standards. PNRL is committed to governance through transparent
accountability and open communication within our team and our stakeholders.
On January 31, 2022, PNRL closed the acquisition of PNRL's flagship asset, the
Selebi Mine. The Selebi Mine includes two shafts, (Selebi and Selebi North
shafts) and related infrastructure (rail, power and water). Shaft sinking and
plant construction started in 1970. Mining concluded in October 2016 when the
operations were placed on care and maintenance due to a failure in the separate
and offsite processing facility. The Selebi Mine was subsequently placed under
liquidation in 2017.
The proposed work plan for the Selebi Mine includes diamond drilling which is
expected to be ongoing for up to 18 months. During that time, additional
metallurgical samples will be collected and sent for more detailed studies. The
underground infrastructure at Selebi North will be upgraded to support an
underground drilling program as well as improve health & safety.
In addition, PNRL is evaluating direct and indirect nickel asset acquisition
opportunities globally, and also: (i) holds 100% interest in the Selkirk Mining
Licence and four Prospecting Licenses in Botswana, (ii) holds a 100% interest
in the Maniitsoq property in Greenland, which is a camp-scale permitted
exploration project comprising 3,048 square kilometres covering numerous
high-grade nickel-copper + cobalt-sulphide occurrences associated with norite
and other mafic-ultramafic intrusions of the Greenland Norite Belt; (iii) holds
a 100% interest in the Post Creek/Halcyon property in Sudbury, Ontario which is
strategically located adjacent to the past producing Podolsky
copper-nickel-precious metal sulphide deposit of KGHM International Ltd.; (iv)
holds a 100% ownership of property in the Quetico region near Thunder Bay,
Ontario; and (v) is expanding its area of exploration interest into Morocco
To view the source version of this press release, please visit
https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/134700
END
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