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Gold/Mining/Energy : Donner Minerals (DML.V) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Terry J. Crebs who wrote (2356)	12/14/1997 4:31:00 AM
From: Surething	Respond to of 11676

OFF Topic: Hi Terry, You raise a good point about the energy requirements needed to refine laterites. Apologies to Feline, but on the issue of refining laterites I have been told there is more than one way to skin a cat. Energy is the key. Inco uses Hydro-electricity. I believe Weda is probably leaning towards a leaching process. I understand the energy source will be sulphur. I have also been told that Alan Taylor knows his stuff. Here is an excerpt from Weda's news release which discussed Metallurgy. Preliminary Metallurgical Test Results Interim results from the first phase of metallurgical testwork have been received and reviewed with Weda Bay's independent consulting metallurgist, Alan Taylor. The testwork, which was undertaken at Hydrometallurgy Research Laboratories (Hydromet) in Brisbane, Australia was aimed at assessing the suitability of the Halmahera laterites to the high pressure acid leach process. Hydromet was selected to undertake this first phase of testwork because of its prior experience with tropical laterites from several sources.The specific aims of the testwork were to assess the thickening characteristics of the laterites, their amenability to physical upgrading and to obtain a preliminary indication of their high pressure leaching response. No work is planned during this first phase on nickel and cobalt recovery from leach liquors. The tests were performed on four different ore types: ú limonitic ore (iron above 55%) ú saprolitic ore (iron below 15%) ú high iron transition ore (iron between 25% and 55%) ú low iron transition ore (iron between 15% and 25%) Ten samples were tested, including samples from Area 2, Uni-Uni Hill, Tarzan Hill and Jira River. The main results are summarised as follows: ú feed thickening tests on all samples yielded good pulp densities of 34 - 39% solids with low flocculent usage. The thickened density is important in the design of pressure leaching autoclaves and these relatively high densities are encouraging for the reduction of autoclave size and cost. ú the samples yielded leach extractions of nickel and cobalt above 93% and up to 98% at 250oC. ú the leach kinetics were rapid with nickel extractions being achieved within 30 minutes. Typical autoclave design leach times are 60-90 minutes. The low residence time should also reduce autoclave size and cost. ú the acid consumption was the equivalent of 170 - 240 kg/tonne of ore for limonite, 290 - 420 for transition and 590 - 730 for saprolite. This indicates an average figure of 400 kg/tonne for blended ore which is comparable with Western Australian lateritic ores and higher than Ramu in Papua New Guinea and Moa Bay in Cuba. ú pre leaching tests showed high reactivity and a potential for reduced acid consumption. Testwork is continuing using a blend of ore types to simulate feed from a mining operation. This will also enable representative leach liquor to be produced so that alternative downstream process steps can be evaluated. This information will enable a conceptual flowsheet to be prepared. Alan Taylor considers the initial results to be encouraging and noted the positive features of the testwork as being high cobalt and nickel extraction,rapid leaching kinetics, moderate acid consumption, good feed thickening characteristics and high reactivity for pre-leaching. He emphasised that these results have been obtained without any attempt at optimisation. I am a layman here Terry but I think Weda's management has a good handle on the extraction process. Best wishes Surething

To: Terry J. Crebs who wrote (2356)	12/14/1997 4:55:00 AM
From: Surething	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 11676

Off Topic, Hi Terry. I'm going out on a bit of a limb here But I don't think you took a look at Weda's website before commenting on the company's nickel prospects. I just had a quick looksee at NordPacific's site and had a little peak at their Ramu Ni-Co discovery. First of all they only have a 35% interest in the property. Weda has a 90% interest in theirs. Secondly while their Co is a little higher than Weda's,their Nickel at .9% is significantly less than Weda's 1.6%. Tonnage is greater so far on Ramu but Weda is just scratching the surface and they are on target for over 50 million tonnes by year end. El Nino might help them get closer to 60 mill but that is just my opinion. This tonnage figure is just the beginning and could go many times higher. Louis Clinton, Weda's President is no dummy, having run the world's largest and most profitable mine - Grasberg. Maybe your buddies should take a closer look at Weda. wedabay.com Best wishes Surething