Renforth Resources Inc (CSE:RFR, OTCQB:RFHRF) is working with Queen's University to test a new process for recovering critical metals from its Victoria nickel deposit in Québec, while capturing carbon dioxide.
The hydrometallurgical process is designed to leach nickel and cobalt held in pyrrhotite, a form of nickel that conventional flotation typically does not recover.
Testing will be done on coarse material in columns, the laboratory equivalent of heap leaching.
Victoria hosts an Inferred Mineral Resource of 125 million tonnes containing 331 million pounds of nickel, 220 million pounds of zinc, 55 million pounds of copper, 28 million pounds of cobalt and 1.53 million ounces of silver.
The ultramafic rocks that host the nickel are also well suited to mineral carbonation, in which CO₂ reacts with magnesium- and iron-bearing minerals to form stable carbonates. Pairing metal recovery with carbon capture could lower the carbon footprint of Victoria's metals, an increasingly important factor for battery and electric-vehicle supply chains.
"Working with Queen's gives us a rigorous, independent look at a processing route that could make Victoria's metals both more recoverable and lower-carbon," said Nicole Brewster, CEO of Renforth.
Testwork covers bench-scale leaching of Victoria samples under neutral and weakly alkaline conditions, column leach tests on coarse material to simulate heap leaching with simultaneous carbon capture, and recovery of nickel, cobalt, copper and zinc from leach solutions as saleable intermediate products. The program also includes techno-economic analysis and life cycle assessment of the process.
The program is led by Dr Fei Wang, co-inventor of the process.
"I am confident that our process can help Renforth selectively recover the critical metals directly from the sulphide minerals in the Victoria ores while simultaneously sequestering CO2 from air in a single step," Wang said.
Renforth and Queen's are finalizing a research agreement covering intellectual property arising from the work.
