Business
Nuinsco Resources Demonstrates Potential to Increase Neodymium Grade in Concentrate at Prairie Lake Project
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / May 6, 2021 / Nuinsco Resources Limited ("Nuinsco" or "the Company") (CSE:NWI) today reported that metallurgical testing has demonstr
About this update from Nuinsco Resources Limited
[{"type":"text","content":" TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / May 6, 2021 / Nuinsco Resources Limited (\"Nuinsco\" or \"the Company\") (CSE:NWI) today reported that metallurgical testing has demonstrated the potential to significantly upgrade the neodymium grade in concentrate, along with other rare earth elements (\"REE\"s), at its 100%-owned Prairie Lake project. Neodymium (\"Nd\") is an element vital in the global conversion to renewable energy and electric vehicle manufacture. Over the past 12 years Nd has ranged in price from a low of US15.47/kg in 2009 to a high of US$251.74 in 2010; it currently trades at US$66.10/kg, an increase of US$17.06/kg over the past year¹. In addition to numerous other high-value REEs (see table below) as well as phosphate, these metallurgical findings increase the Company's optimism for the economics of Prairie Lake. The enrichment in Neodymium is significant because of the anticipated increase in demand for this element to meet requirements for the expanding electrification of the world's vehicle fleet and conversion to renewable energy sources. New analyses were conducted on a suite of samples obtained from a historic metallurgical program conducted by the Company using gravity pre-concentration and flotation processes to evaluate the potential to produce a high-grade phosphate (P2O5) concentrate from Prairie Lake raw phosrock (carbonatite - see table below); as such the tests were optimized for phosphate recovery. The tests demonstrate the feasibility to upgrade raw Prairie Lake phosrock from circa 3.5% P2O5 to >30% P2O5 (34.03% and 32.03% in the case of the mean grade from the two tests reported here²). It is important to note that P2O5 is a vital non-renewable resource essential for sustaining the life of plants and animals. While the phosphate grade was clearly enhanced in the metallurgical test by a factor of nearly 10 the REE content was also substantially increased. Although the tests were not optimized to REE recovery the concentrates produced still showed a substantial upgrade in REE concentration. In the case of neodymium (Nd), raw phosrock in the Prairie Lake carbonatite contains an average of 350 ppm Nd, while the average grade of the concentrates reported here are 1745 ppm Nd and 1659 ppm Nd - a concentration factor of approximately 4.5. Similar concentration factors are observed for other rare earth elements. ...