King River Resources is undertaking further hydrometallurgical test work on the high purity alumina, or “HPA”, that can be produced from its giant Speewah specialty metals project in the East Kimberly. Independent assay results and repeat analysis on the company’s recent breakthrough test production of a high value 99.99% “4N HPA” product will be tabled soon.
HPA can be used in integrated circuits, ceramics, laser crystals, cutting equipment, furnace tubes and as a polishing material.
It is also used in LED lights and lithium-ion batteries, two markets that are burgeoning right now.
The additional work is being conducted ahead of the project’s prefeasibility study and King River said that is it also using the analysis to confirm that its HPA is of the “alpha” variety.
Alpha, beta and gamma are different phases of alumina and all have different nanoparticle structures, mainly on the surface area, which is important when it comes to how the particles perform under different environmental conditions.
The alpha phase can withstand high heat and can be used in the production of plastics and ceramics.
Alpha HPA improves the density of ceramics and helps the material last longer in very high temperatures. The alpha HPA is also used in the production of synthetic rubies and aluminium garnets.
Metallurgical testing at the project has uncovered an effective route to the production of high value HPA, as opposed to the vanadium-titanium-iron products that it will focus on at a later stage, thereby allowing the project to potentially get its hand on some early cash.
4N HPA currently sells for between US$20,000 and US$30,000 per tonne and prices are forecast to remain strong, whilst new demand is expected to eventually match or exceed supply.
King River said that its consultants, Como Engineers and CSA Global have nearly completed the project’s plant and infrastructure design and all the numbers will be produced soon.
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