North American Nickel (NAN-V) tests up to 35% Ni at Maniitsoq
June 11, 2013 - News Release
North American Nickel Inc. has received a report on the results of mineralogical studies performed by SGS Canada Inc. on three samples of mineralized drill core selected by NAN from NAN's 100-per-cent-owned Maniitsoq Ni-Cu-Co-PGE (nickel-copper-cobalt-platinum-group-elements) sulphide project in southwest Greenland. Two of the samples came from the Imiak Hill zone and one from the Spotty Hill zone. The objectives of the study were to identify and quantify the nickel, copper and cobalt-bearing minerals within the samples and to determine the liberation and association characteristics of the nickel and copper sulphides. A copy of the report is posted on the NAN website. Highlights and selected results are presented below.
John Pattison, North American Nickel's chief geologist, states: "Qemscan is a new technology that gives us a detailed picture of the mineralogy of our sulphide mineralization and host rocks and how it might affect the metallurgy in a mining/processing scenario. At this early stage of exploration it is very helpful for management and investors to know that, based on the mineralogical characteristics of the samples analyzed, there is potential for high nickel recoveries from both the Imiak and Spotty Hill zones."
Qemscan report highlights
- All three samples show high potential nickel recovery. Mineralogically limiting grade-recovery curves indicate maximum potential nickel grades of 35 per cent at recoveries of 84 to 87 per cent.
- Pentlandite is the main nickel-bearing mineral and it contains 95.5 to 96.3 per cent of all the nickel in the samples. Silicate-hosted nickel comprises less than 1 per cent of all the nickel.
- Pentlandite P80 grain sizes range from 53 to 65 micrometres.
- Total potentially floatable pentlandite ranges from 96.3 to 97.6 per cent.
- All copper is hosted by chalcopyrite. Chalcopyrite P80 grain sizes range from 30 to 40 micrometres.
- Potential recoveries for copper are variable across the samples. Mineralogically limiting grade recovery curves indicate maximum potential copper grades of 34 per cent at recoveries of 52 to 77 per cent.
- Total potentially floatable chalcopyrite ranges from 87.1 to 95.4 per cent.
- Pentlandite and pyrite are the main hosts of the cobalt in the samples.
Key results
Modal analysis
The modal analyses (in weight per cent) for the three samples are listed in a table on the company's website. All three contain significant quantities of pyrrhotite and pentlandite (8.2 to 12.3 per cent). Amphibole is the dominant silicate mineral in samples from Imiak Hill (L163163 and L163164) while orthopyroxene is the main silicate mineral in the sample from Spotty Hill (L163593).
Nickel, copper and cobalt deportment
For the three samples, pentlandite contains 95.5 to 96.3 per cent of the overall nickel in the sample while pyrrhotite hosts 2.7 to 4.0 per cent and pyrite 0.02 to 0.17 per cent. The silicate minerals (ortho- and clinopyroxene, amphibole and biotite/phlogopite) account for just 0.50 to 0.91 per cent of the total nickel.
The copper in all three samples is contained entirely within chalcopyrite.
Cobalt is mainly contained within pentlandite (89.4 per cent) in sample L163163 but in samples L163164 and L163593 it is split about evenly between pentlandite (45.4 to 54 per cent) and pyrite (46 to 54.6 per cent).
Grain size
The P80s (80-per-cent passing criteria represent the particle or mineral grain size at which 80 per cent is finer than this value) of the minerals and overall particles are presented in a table on the company's website.
Liberation characteristics of pentlandite and chalcopyrite
In Qemscan liberation analysis, particles are classified into the following categories based on the exposed 2-D surface area of the mineral of interest in per cent:
- Free -- greater than 95-per-cent surface area exposure of pentlandite (Pn) or chalcopyrite (Cpy);
- Liberated -- greater than 80-per-cent surface area exposure of Pn or Cpy;
- Non-liberated but floatable -- Pn (or Cpy) with other mineral(s) combined showing greater than 95-per-cent surface area exposure, where Pn (or Cpy) showing greater than 20-per-cent surface area exposure;
- Not floatable -- Pn (or Cpy) with greater than 20-per-cent surface area exposure combined with two or more other mineral groups or Pn (or Cpy) surface exposure less than 20 per cent.
The predicted floatation characteristics for pentlandite and chalcopyrite are summarized in tables on the company's website. Total potentially floatable pentlandite ranges from 96.3 to 97.6 per cent and total potentially floatable chalcopyrite ranges from 87.1 to 95.4 per cent.
Grade-recovery analyses
Mineralogically limiting grade-recovery analyses provide an indication of the theoretical maximum achievable elemental grade by recovery, based on the calculated mass of minerals and the total mass in each liberation category (individual particle liberation and grade). It is important to note that these results do not reflect any other physical factors (or floatation reagent kinetics) that could occur in the actual metallurgical process, such as possible fine-grained (less-than-10-micrometre) sulphide and/or gangue entrainment (diluents) or very fine sulphide intergrowths on liberated grains that would make selective floatation difficult. Therefore, predicted results show much higher grade-recovery relationships than are actually achievable from the process. Nevertheless they do provide an indication of the potential nickel and copper recoveries. The mineralogically limiting grade-recovery curves for nickel and copper are presented in images on the company's website.
All three samples show remarkably consistent high predicted recoveries for nickel. For sample L163163, the grade recovery curve indicates the maximum possible Ni grade is approximately 35 per cent at a recovery of 86 per cent. For L163164, the maximum possible Ni grade is approximately 35 per cent at a recovery of 87 per cent. For L163593 the maximum possible Ni grade is approximately 35 per cent at a recovery of 84 per cent.
For sample L163593, from the Spotty Hill zone, the maximum possible copper grade is approximately 34 per cent at a Cu recovery of 72 per cent.
Despite the fact samples L163163 and L163164 both come from the Imiak Hill zone and are contiguous samples in the same hole, their grade recovery curves differ considerably. The curve for sample L163163 indicates the maximum possible Cu grade is approximately 34 per cent at a Cu recovery of 52 per cent. For L163164 the maximum possible Cu grade is approximately 34 per cent at a Cu recovery of 77 per cent.
Further study is required, but the relatively poor indicated recovery for sample L163163 may, at least in part, be related to the fact that of the three samples this one has the least amount of chalcopyrite.
Background and methodology
NAN submitted the three drill core samples listed in a table on the company's website to SGS's Lakefield advanced mineralogy facility for Qemscan mineralogical analysis. Two samples (L163163 and L163164) came from hole MQ-12-001, which was drilled on the Imiak Hill zone, and one sample (L163593) came from hole MQ-12-005, which tested the Spotty Hill zone. Both holes were drilled in 2012 by NAN. The Imiak and Spotty Hill showings are located within 1.5 kilometres of each other in the northern part of the Greenland norite belt on mineral exploration licence 2011/54 belonging to NAN.
SGS stage ground the samples to 90 per cent passing 150 micrometres (approximately 80 per cent passing 106 micrometres) and prepared a graphite-impregnated polished section from a subsample of each sample. The polished sections were then analyzed by Qemscan.
Qemscan is an acronym for quantitative evaluation of materials by scanning electron microscopy. It is an automated system that is configured to measure mineralogical variability based on chemistry at the micrometre-scale. Qemscan utilizes both the back-scattered electron (BSE) signal intensity as well as an energy dispersive X-ray (EDS) signal at each measurement point. EDS X-ray counts or spectra are used to assign mineral identities to each measurement point by comparing against a known mineral species identification program (SIP) or database. Mineral speciation, quantitative modal abundance and elemental deportment can be determined. Textural information such as core mapping, particle and mineral grain size and shape, mineral liberation, mineral associations, porosity, and matrix density can be captured and reported numerically and graphically.
Qualified person
All technical information in this release has been reviewed by Dr. Mark Fedikow, PGeo, who is the qualified person for the company and president, North American Nickel.
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