Cardero's Sheini Ironstone Produces Pig Iron Grading 93.2% from Highly Metallized DRI Product
September 17 2013 - 8:00AM
Marketwired Canada
Cardero Resource Corp. ("Cardero" or the "Company") (TSX:CDU)(NYSE
MKT:CDY)(FRANKFURT:CR5) is pleased to announce that metallurgical test work has
progressed to successful production of pig iron. Test work at Cardero Materials
Testing Laboratory ("CMTL"), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company),
previously demonstrated that a highly metallized Direct Reduced Iron ("DRI")
product could be produced from Sheini Ironstone. Recent work has utilized highly
metallized DRI product (+95% metallic iron) to produce a pig iron grading 93.2%
iron. The results from the described metallurgical tests strongly suggest that a
finely disseminated iron resource, such as Sheini Ironstone, can be successfully
utilized as feedstock to a process whereby a value added iron product can be
produced at low cost using inexpensive raw materials.
Successful Pig Iron Production
Sheini DRI produced by CMTL was used as feed material to conduct a smelting test
in the electric arc furnace ("EAF"). Sheini DRI was briquetted with thermal coal
(high silica ash containing), and a small quantity of binder for the smelting
demonstration. Hot metal was generated from cold Sheini DRI containing
briquettes at 1475 degrees Celsius with minimal production of slag. The EAF was
tapped after 85 minutes and the hot metal poured into a variety of casts and
buttons (Plate 1). The lab EAF trial produced 12.70 kilograms of pig iron from
16.2 kilograms of Sheini DRI, with only 0.88 kilograms of slag generated. A cast
was sent to McCreath & Son, Inc. for a certified pig iron analysis.
Plate 1: Hot metal products after pouring at CMTL.
The results of the certified pig iron analysis are presented in Table 1.
Table 1: Pig iron analysis.
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Sheini Pig Iron
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Phosphorus % 0.2
Silicon % 3.89
Manganese % 0.05
Carbon % 2.55
Sulfur % 0.13
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Assumed Fe % 93.18
Fe-Unit % Recovery 95.9
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A short video of the pig iron production process is available for viewing on the
Company website at:
http://www.cardero.com/s/sheini_iron.asp.
Large-Scale Magnetizing Reduction Roast
Results of bench-scale magnetizing reduction roast were previously released (see
NR13-13, May 13, 2013). Larger scale testing of the magnetizing reduction roast
process was subsequently undertaken and served several purposes: 1) to
demonstrate a commercially viable process that could efficiently roast large
volumes of raw Sheini Ironstone; 2) to roast sufficient raw Sheini Ironstone to
investigate various beneficiation techniques and develop a processing flow
sheet; and 3) to roast, beneficiate, and generate sufficient Sheini DRI product
to conduct a bench-scale smelting test.
Large-scale roasting investigations were conducted with a rotary kiln. Testing
involved first establishing the capabilities with regards to the roasting
process of the rotary kiln ("Rotary Kiln Tests"), and then conducting focused
magnetizing reduction roast tests with the rotary kiln ("Roasting Tests"). The
Rotary Kiln Tests helped to establish basic kiln parameters including: raw
material feed techniques and rates, positive air flow through the kiln,
establishing an inert atmosphere within the kiln, roasting temperature, and
residence time of material within the kiln. The Roasting Tests were focused more
specifically on the raw-Ironstone top-size.
In the large scale tests with the rotary kiln, raw Ironstone was mixed together
with the thermal coal reductant and fed into the furnace retort with the
expectation that the free material rotating in the kiln pipe would produce
maximum reduction benefits.
The roasted products from both Rotary Kiln Tests and Roasting Tests were used to
investigate several beneficiation and liberation techniques. Processes
investigated included: pre- and post-grind screening, pre- and post-grind Dry
Low Intensity Magnetic Separation, a hydro-cyclone, and Wet Low Intensity
Magnetic Separation. A commercially viable processing flow sheet was developed
from these investigations, which was employed to beneficiate the roasted
material generated in large- scale rotary kiln "Production Roasts."
Fifty-eight kilograms of raw Sheini Ironstone were roasted during three
Production Roasts. Raw ironstone was prepared for the roasts by crushing to 100%
minus 1 mm in a roll crusher, splitting into 58 one-kilogram charges, and then
adding appropriate amounts of thermal coal and lime. The rotary kiln roasts were
conducted at a temperature of 1150 degrees C over a six day period. After
processing, the highly-metallized DRI product (+95% metallic iron) was
homogenized and a representative split was collected for certified analysis at
several independent laboratories. The results of these analyses are presented in
Table 2. The large-scale magnetizing reduction roasts with the rotary kiln
ultimately produced a composited DRI sample weighing 21.3 kilograms at
approximately 76% iron-grade and approximately 60% iron-unit recovery from 58
kilograms of raw Sheini Ironstone.
ABOUT THE SHEINI HILLS IRON DEPOSIT
The Sheini Hills iron deposit is located in northeastern Ghana. A maiden Mineral
Resource Estimate was completed for the deposit by SRK Consulting (UK) Limited
("SRK") for Cardero, in which SRK reported a total Inferred Mineral Resource of
1.312 billion tonnes with mean grade of 33.8% iron. The resource at Sheini
consists of two types of ore: 1. Ironstone (1.045 billion tonnes @ 35.2% iron),
and 2. Detrital (266.9 million tonnes @ 28.2% iron). The inferred mineral
resource was largely calculated from the 11,400 metre diamond drill core and
reverse circulation drilling program completed over a strike length of
approximately 9 kilometres.
For details with respect to the work done to date and the assumptions underlying
the current resource estimates, see the technical report entitled "Mineral
Resource Estimate for the Sheini Hills Iron Project, Ghana, January 2013" dated
January 14, 2013 with an effective date of January 7, 2013 and available under
the Company's profile at www.sedar.com.
Table 2: Summary of certified assays and titrations performed on
representative splits of the composited DRI concentrate produced during
large-scale production roasts in the rotary kiln.
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CC#GHSTO-DRI Composite Certified Lab Results
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Fe total % greater than 74.80
Fe metallic % 76.19
Fe Recovery % 59.72
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Al2O3 % 1.57
C % 0.97
CaO % 1
K2O % 0.083
MgO % 0.13
Mn % 0.061
Na2O % 0.061
P % 0.151
S % 0.19
SiO2 % 12.25
TiO2 % 0.14
V % 0.008
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QUALIFIED PERSON
Mr. Glenn Hoffman, MMSA QP, the President and CEO of Cardero Iron Ore Company
Ltd. and a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has
reviewed the scientific and technical information that forms the basis for this
news release. Mr. Hoffman is not independent of the Company as he is an officer
of a subsidiary and holds common shares and incentive stock options in Cardero.
The metallurgical test work is designed and directly observed on site by Mr.
Hoffman, who is responsible for all metallurgical testing and the quality
control/quality assurance.
QA/QC
The work program at CMTL is supervised by Glenn Hoffman, who is responsible for
all aspects of the work, including the quality assurance/quality control
program. On-site personnel at the CMTL laboratory perform testing to strict
protocol, rigorously collecting and tracking samples which are prepared,
security sealed, and shipped to a variety of accredited and ISO certified
laboratories for additional sample preparation and analysis. Quality control is
assured by the use of international and in-house standards. The specific
laboratories used for the analyses reported in this news release are ALS Global
in Reno, Nevada, and Andrew S. McCreath & Son, Inc. in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
ALS's quality system complies with the requirements for the International
Standards ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 17025: 1999. Andrew S. McCreath & Son, Inc. is
accredited to ISO 17025 by the American Association of Laboratory Accreditation
(A2LA) as a commercial chemical laboratory. Total iron was measured by ALS
Global through x-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis. In XRF analysis a material is
bombarded with gamma rays causing inner orbital electrons of an atom to be
expelled and outer orbital electrons to fill, or fall into the empty spaces. As
this happens energy is released and can be measured to determine the elemental
make-up of the material. Metallic iron was measured by Andrew S. McCreath & Son,
Inc. through metallic iron titration. In a titration a reagent or "titrant" is
prepared in solution and reacted with a solution of the "titrand," or analyte in
question to determine the concentration of the analyte.
ABOUT CARDERO RESOURCE CORP.
The common shares of the Company are currently listed on the Toronto Stock
Exchange (symbol CDU), the NYSE MKT (symbol CDY) and the Frankfurt Stock
Exchange (symbol CR5). For further details on the Company readers are referred
to the Company's web site (www.cardero.com), Canadian regulatory filings on
SEDAR at www.sedar.com and United States regulatory filings on EDGAR at
www.sec.gov.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors of Cardero Resource Corp.
Henk van Alphen, CEO and President
The Cautionary Statements are available at following address:
http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/cardero-cautionary-statements.pdf
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Cardero Resource Corp.
Keith Henderson
604-408-7488 Ext. 3887
Cardero Resource Corp.
604 408-7488 or Toll Free: 1-888-770-7488
604 408-7499 (FAX)
info@cardero.com
www.cardero.com
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