Upstart battery minerals company Galileo has produced some scintillating cobalt results following its latest round of metallurgical testwork which has produced up to 95 percent cobalt from concentrate samples.
High-grade results have been observed across each of the company’s samples, extracted from its Western Australian-based Norseman Project, with the average cobalt extraction rate a blistering 90 percent.
Nickel extraction rates were also to a high standard, with an average return of 60 percent and a top result of 66 percent.
Galileo’s results confirm the possibility of using simple and low-cost extraction methods to deliver high-grade ore at the Noreseman project.
Commenting on the extraction results managing director, Brad Underwood said:
Results from the recent round of metallurgical test work show we are making substantial progress understanding the best way to extract cobalt and nickel from our Norseman resources.
“Earlier test work, reported in the prospectus, showed cobalt and nickel extractions of approximately 80% and 25% respectively. We have advanced significantly from those early results and will continue to optimise test work to look for further improvements in overall metal recovery.”
The testwork was completed at ALS Metallurgy’s Perth laboratory under the direction of mineral processing experts SGS-Bateman.
All tests were conducted over 24 hours at atmospheric pressure with a temperature of 70o C.
The tests also used low amounts of sulphur dioxide and sulphuric acid.
According to the report delivered by SGS-Bateman, the levels of cobalt and manganese leeched at the same rates, giving Galileo a distinct advantage, with the contained cobalt able to be recovered using standard processing equipment operated at atmospheric pressures.
Galileo is thereby able to avoid using more expensive equipment typically associated with other nickel-cobalt developers.
The company will continue to conduct metallurgical tests on its Norseman ore with further results to be released.