Cobalt Blue has advanced the commissioning of its demonstration plant at its Broken Hill project in New South Wales.
General site amenities to support sustained on-site activities at Pyrite Hill have been built, while the milling and concentrator equipment at Broken Hill is nearing completion.
In a statement, Cobalt Blue said excavation of the box cut had been completed and development of the decline was well advanced, while installation and commissioning of key process equipment is progressing.
Ore production and processing are expected to commence shortly.
Cobalt Blue chief executive officer Joe Kaderavek said he anticipated the demonstration plant would deliver more than 3000 kilograms of cobalt products from June to November.
“In parallel, we have received better than expected demand for larger scale samples globally. Following easing of COVID travel restrictions, we have recommenced meetings with key battery and electric vehicle makers in the US, Korea and EU.”
Operations at the plant comprise two phases. Firstly, mined ore will be crushed, milled and treated to produce a cobalt-pyrite concentrate at the Pyrite Hill site.
The concentrate will then be mucked to the plant in Broken Hill for extraction and recovery of cobalt as Mixed Hydroxide Precipitate (MHP) and/or cobalt sulphate.
About 3500-4000 tonnes of ore will be mined from Pyrite Hill to support 20 weeks of continuous operation of the plant.