KAT Exploration Inc (KATX)

[ShortonCash]

Vale invested $200 million ....in Argentia BonaVista and Argentia... both with a strong Vale connection

http://www.sudburyminingsolutions.com/articles/News/09-11-Vale-hydromet.asp

Vale invested $200 million in an R&D program, going from bench testing to a 1:10,000 scale mini pilot plant at Sheridan Park and, ultimately, to a 1:100 scale demonstration plant in Argentia, Newfoundland. The demonstration plant cost $100 million and operated for two and a half years at an additional cost of $50 million.

“It’s a very complicated flow sheet,” said Stevens. “Our feed is not just nickel. It’s nickel, cobalt and copper, plus all the various impurities. We had to make sure we had an effective and proven method to not only extract and recover the metals, but also to track and manage the deportment of all the impurities and trace elements.

The technology was pronounced technically and economically feasible by the end of 2008 and Vale began construction of the full-scale 50,000 tonne per year hydromet plant in 2009 at Long Harbour, 40 kilometres north of the demonstration plant.

Hydromet technologies have long been used to process nickel laterite ore and copper. Canadian miner Sherritt International Corp. operates a hydromet plant in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta that processes nickel and cobalt sulphide ore from its joint venture Moa operation in Cuba, but the Sherritt process wasn’t suitable for Newfoundland, said Stevens.

“What we’re doing isn’t done anywhere else

,

The massive capital project is more than 40 per cent complete and on target to begin processing nickel sulphide concentrate from Vale’s Voisey’s Bay Mine in Labrador by 2013.

“Hydromet technology has advanced significantly over the past 15 years and is being applied to areas where it was never thought to be viable,” said Don Stevens, general manager, operations, Long Harbour Processing Plant

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