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Imperial Mining Provides Update on Development Plans for the Crater Lake Scandium Project
MONTREAL, July 30, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Imperial Mining Group Ltd. ("Imperial") (TSX VENTURE: IPG) is to provide an update on progress made to date and futu
About this update from Scandium Canada Ltd Class A
[{"type":"text","content":" MONTREAL, July 30, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Imperial Mining Group Ltd. (\"Imperial\") (TSX VENTURE: IPG) is to provide an update on progress made to date and future plans for the development of the 100% owned Crater Lake scandium project, northeastern Quebec. Imperial Mining management and staff have been working diligently throughout 2019 to prove the significant scandium resource potential of the Crater Lake project. A drive to enhance investor and consumer awareness of the critical importance of scandium as a new technology metal in increasing demand for applications in the automotive, aerospace, transportation and defense sectors related to strengthening aluminum alloys has also been made. Recently reported drilling results (see Press Release: June 18, 2019) confirm the potential at Crater Lake for a large, near-surface resource of economic grade scandium mineralization and rare earths. Initial process test work indicates that it is amenable to a low-cost pre-concentration method at the site. A clear path towards the initial development of the Crater Lake scandium resource has now been defined and is summarized below. METALLURGY AND MARKET DEVELOPMENT Previous mineralogical studies completed by SGS Lakefield on a composite sample collected from historical drill core on the property (see Press Release: June 27, 2018) indicates that the scandium is primarily hosted by two common iron silicate minerals (pyroxene and amphibole) that are ferro-magnetic. The Phase I Mineral Processing scoping program completed on a composite core sample showed that a scandium mineral concentrate can be produced by using simple magnetic separation. This provides a low-cost method for pre-concentrating the scandium mineralization on the site for shipping to an off-site processing facility, located in a community with the necessary supporting infrastructure and aluminum production capacity. The goal of the work is to obtain a minimum 50% waste material rejection rate while maintaining an 85% scandium recovery. Subsequent processing steps will involve acid digestion of the concentrate, high-temperature kiln baking and water wash to produce a high-quality scandium leach solution. Scandium oxide would then be recovered using conventional solvent extraction techniques. Two 100 kg bulk samples were collected from the split core from the 2019 winter drill...