MANITOBA - NUINSCO RESOURCES of Toronto must be pleased with the potential of its Minago nickel deposit in the Thompson Nickel Belt to support the recovery of "extremely high-grade" concentrate. Tests conducted at SGS MINERAL SERVICES (LAKEFIELD) indicate that concentrate will contain 27% Ni and recovery will be 57%. Higher grades can be produced with lower recovery, according to Nuinsco.
The high concentrate grade is due to the presence of millerite, which contains 64.7% Ni, and the low sulphide content of the deposit. In addition to the 27% Ni grade, the concentrate contained 1.30% Cu, 8.77 g/t Pd, 3.67 g/t Pt, 0.35 g/t Au, 6.0 g/t Ag and 0.38% Co. Magnesium oxide (MgO) content was 9.5%.
"We're extremely pleased with these results, particularly the grade of the nickel concentrate which, to our knowledge, is one of the highest grade nickel concentrates in the world," said Nuinsco president Brian Robertson. "Nickel recoveries are comparable to open pit nickel mines with similar head grades, such as BHP Billiton's Mt. Keith nickel mine in Australia. The testing also demonstrated the potential to increase recovery from the tailings stream through metallurgical optimization work, which is expected to be done in 2007 as part of a feasibility study."
Learn more at www.Nuinsco.ca.
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