Acap Energy Limited updated the market on results of recent metallurgical testwork conducted on ores from the company's Wilconi Nickel - Cobalt Project, in Western Australia. Samples of drill cores representative of different
ore types (limonitic, saprolitic and saprock) were selected and provided to Simulus Laboratories (Perth) for testing. The samples were tested for their amenability to nickel and cobalt leaching using five different processing methods, including: Atmospheric Leach, High Pressure Acid Leach, Reductive Leach, Acid Bake and Water Leach and Salt Roast and Water Leach. Results show high metal recoveries for limonitic and saprolitic ores, with
averages between 73.6 - 93.1% Ni and 71.1 - 93.2% Co from HPAL, atmospheric leach and acid bake methods. Metal recoveries for Reductive Leach and Salt Leach tests on the same samples were lower Tests conducted on saprock ore showed good metal recoveries using the atmospheric leach method of 79% Ni and 72.8% Co but were much lower for other methods tested. HPAL returned the highest metal recoveries out of all the methods used, with >93% Ni and >91% Co leached from both the limonitic and saprolitic ores. The atmospheric leach and acid bake methods had similar high recoveries for the limonitic and saprolitic ore types however the acid bake method required much lower acid consumption. More metallurgical testwork is planned using samples from recently drilled diamond cores to continue to refine the preferred processing methods and fine tune the recoveries for the
different ore types.