King River Resources is on the home straight now as it looks to complete a pre-feasibility study on its Speewah high purity alumina project in the East Kimberly region of Western Australia. The company said it only has a handful of hydrometallurgical tests to polish off now before the final report can hit the streets. Mining, marketing and environmental studies have already been completed and the company will soon be in a position to reveal the high level key metrics around the project.
The emerging HPA developer said it is in the process of finalising the verification analysis on a larger type of sample of its 4N high purity alumina product, including independent laboratory testing.
4N high purity alumina or “HPA” is a greater than 99.99 per cent pure form of aluminium oxide that contains less than 100 part per million impurities.
HPA is the pre-cursor material for the manufacture of synthetic sapphire glass that can be used to manufacture mobile phones and ceramic coated lithium ion battery separators. It is also used in the burgeoning LED lighting industry.
When HPA is used in battery separators, it enhances the thermal stability and electrical properties of the cells.
The HPA market is forecast to triple by 2030 according to Roskill and it is closely aligned with the burgeoning battery boom.
Whilst the price and performance of HPA is variable and reliant on density, crystal structure, particle size, distribution and purity, it currently sells for between US$20,000 and US$30,000 per tonne.
King River has recently discovered its HPA is of the “alpha” variety and it only has one more aspect of test work to complete now to verify its purity.
Alpha, beta and gamma are defined as the different phases of alumina. The alpha phase can withstand high heat and is used in the production of plastics and ceramics.
Alpha HPA improves the density of ceramics and helps the material last longer at very high temperatures.
Alpha HPA is also used in the production of synthetic sapphires, rubies and aluminium garnets, which have technological applications and used as mediums in lasers and in LED lighting
The Perth based company made a strategic switch when its initial test work at its vanadium-titanium-iron Speewah project uncovered a hydrometallurgical route to produce HPA, which is now the sole focus of its impending PFS.
The vanadium-titanium-iron products will be the focus at a later stage and are not part of the current study.
King River said that its consultants, Como Engineers, are at the validation and review stage of the Speewah plant and infrastructure design, for which the costing is also largely complete.
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