- King River Resources (KRR) has achieved its first high purity alumina as part of the pre-feasibility study for the company’s Speewah project in WA
- The high purity alumina (HPA) was produced via a new process developed by KRR’s metallurgical consultants, TSW Analytical
- King River and TSW are now planning further test work and analysis to refine and streamline the purification process
- Further test work is also underway to optimise the extraction processes for oxides of vanadium, titanium and iron
- KRR now plans to scale the HPA production as the principal scope of the pre-feasibility study for Speewah
- King River Resources has jumped a huge 38.2 per cent to trade for 4.7 cents per share
King River Resources (KRR) has achieved its first high purity alumina refinement as part of the pre-feasibility study for the company’s Speewah project in WA.
Call me Al
The high purity alumina (HPA) was produced via a new process developed by KRR’s metallurgical consultants, TSW Analytical.
The breakthrough process succeeded in isolating the HPA from a sulphuric acid leach solution containing vanadium, titanium, iron, magnesium and aluminium. The novel three-stage process has given KRR the capacity to produce HPA to fast track the economic viability of Speewah, before expanding into vanadium, iron and titanium production down the line.
The final product hosted small quantities of calcium and magnesium, with traces of sodium and other contaminants. The assay results were calculated by converting the impurities to oxides and subtracting the oxide mass from the total, giving 99.99 per cent alumina purity.
Next steps
King River and TSW are now planning further test work and analysis to refine the purification process. The companies are hoping to achieve HPA purities to three decimal places.
This analysis and refinement is aimed at streamlining the process to improve overall recoveries while reducing the amounts of reagents used.
Further test work is also underway to optimise the extraction processes for oxides of vanadium, titanium and iron.
KRR plans to scale the HPA production as the principal scope of the pre-feasibility study for Speewah. The other oxide extraction processes will be left for future studies. King River believes maintaining this initial tight focus on HPA will reduce the overall size of the project, minimising capital expenditure in the near term while maximising returns.
Company Chairman Anthony Barton says this strategy is the best way forward for Speewah.
“Refocusing our pre-feasibility study on a smaller project producing only high value HPA product has simplified our process flowsheet and it may deliver valuable improvements to project economics,” he said.
“The potential to add vanadium pentoxide and titanium dioxide into the product mix in the future will be under annual review,” he added.
The company will provide further updates as information becomes available.
King River Resources has jumped a huge 38.2 per cent to trade for 4.7 cents per share as at 12:27 pm AEST.