Centaurus Metals provided an update on current metallurgical (pilot plant) testing, significant personnel appointments, and other key work streams progressing as part of the Jaguar Nickel Sulphide Project‘s ongoing Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS).
Centaurus Metals reported that the current pilot plant testwork program at ALS Metallurgy in Perth had produced highly promising preliminary results, which have confirmed the quality of the Jaguar Project and supported its potential to achieve excellent nickel recoveries and ultimately deliver a battery-grade nickel sulphate product for the rapidly growing electric vehicle (EV) market.
Despite positive results, Centaurus Metals said the pilot testwork program’s delayed start will cause it to run until the end of April, delaying the crucial process flowsheet design for the refinery circuit. As a result, the deadline for finishing the DFS has been moved to the end of Q4 2023, with a final investment decision (FID) planned for the third quarter of 2024.
According to Managing Director Darren Gordon, the findings of the initial phases of the pilot plant testwork program were equal to or better than expectations, supporting the process design for the downstream refinery and verifying the Jaguar Nickel Sulphide Project development strategy.
“The results we have seen to date have reinforced our belief that Jaguar is a Tier-1 nickel project with a very low GHG profile that is ideally placed to deliver Class 1 nickel products into the rapidly growing EV-battery market. We are seeing very high levels of metal extraction from the refining of flotation concentrates in pilot testwork, with nickel extraction in the leach circuit of over 98%. With this we expect to see a very high nickel recovery from concentrate to sulphate once piloting work is complete,” Gordon said.
Gordon stated that effective zinc separation would improve Jaguar’s project economics through by-product revenue generation since a zinc hydroxide product will most likely be created for delivery to the zinc smelter market. Furthermore, Gordon added that Phase 3 of the pilot program, which is now underway, is projected to provide a cobalt hydroxide product, adding to Jaguar’s by-product revenue streams.
“The pilot program is in full swing and will now continue until the end of April, with results to be collated and fed into the final process flowsheet design for the refinery circuit. Given the scale and importance of this work, it is vital that we get this right to ensure we deliver the high quality project and product to the market as planned. The team has worked hard to reconfigure the overall DFS schedule, and our master schedule now shows a completion time of late Q4 2023 rather than mid-2023, pushing out the FID to Q3 2024,” he said.
He stated that the company’s primary focus is to maximise the asset’s long-term value and provide a project that will effectively ramp up full production and withstand the test of time. According to him, it is critical to be pragmatic and ensure that quality work is not traded for timeliness when the global resource sector is at capacity. He said the team is sure that it’ll be able to reach the amended deadline of late Q4.
“I would also like to take this opportunity to welcome a number of important new additions to our team, as detailed in this announcement. The additional expertise and capability they bring will help to ensure that we maintain quality and achieve our targets,” Gordon added.
