Replies to post #3376 on Recyclico Battery Materials Inc. (AMYZF)

[value1008]

Ed, Buchans is a few years behind AMY and will have much higher costs because they do not have a resource that can so quickly, cheaply and eco-friendly be converted into EMM and EMD. We've discussed this a few times already here.

[Teuchter]

Hi Ed, I think Value 1008 has it wrong in regards to Buchans Minerals. The last Buchans Minerals news release on the metallurgical process makes no mention of roasting and hammering. The release actually states that the ore is primarily a carbonate ore and that the flowsheet is a straight sulphuric acid leach. Carbonate ores do not require any roasting. In fact the Buchans Minerals flow sheet looks very similar to most of the Chinese EMM plants that process carbonate ores; a straight sulphuric acid leach followed by a two stage purification process to get out the iron and other impurities to produce a high purity electrolyte solution ready to go into an electrowinning circuit. In fact, the flowsheet identified by Buchans Minerals is simpler than AMY's who require a two stage reducing leach with SO2 introduced into the system. It is early days for Buchans Minerals, however with almost four times the AMY grade, a very simple ore body (likely to have a very low stropping ratio) and a carbonate matrix that only requires a straight sulphuric acid leach, the factors seem to line up for a competitive operating cost. We'll have to wait for the preliminary economic assessment to reveal these numbers.