Flin Flon Tailings Testwork Agreement with Hudbay Minerals Inc.
Hudbay Minerals Inc Testwork Agreement
Sydney, June 27, 2023 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Cobalt Blue Holdings Limited (
ASX:COB) (COH:FRA) (CBBHF:OTCMKTS) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a testwork co-operation agreement (the "Testwork Agreement") with Hudbay Minerals Inc. (TSE:HBM) (NYSE:HBM) with respect to Hudbay's wholly-owned Flin Flon tailings storage facility located in the Province of Manitoba, Canada (the "Tailings Facility").
COB has agreed to utilise its proprietary minerals processing technology to assess the ability to recover gold, silver, copper, zinc, cobalt and sulphur from a pyrite/pyrrhotite concentrate produced from the tailings. COB's proprietary technology offers the potential to convert the sulphides into elemental sulphur, which is stable and benign. The testwork program is expected to take up to 4 months to complete once the tailings sample is received from Hudbay. COB will receive a fee for undertaking the testwork program, which is expected to cover its costs.
In 2021, Hudbay identified the opportunity to reprocess Flin Flon tailings and has recently completed a confirmatory drilling program covering approximately two-thirds of the Tailings Facility (see Hudbay press release dated 2 November 2022 "Hudbay Provides Exploration Update and Announces Initial Mineral Resource Estimate at Llaguen", available on Hudbay's website).
COB Strategy
COB has recently issued guidance on the rollout of its strategy (see ASX announcement dated 13/5/2023 "COB - CEO's Letter to Shareholders", available on COB's website).
This strategy has three building blocks:
1. Broken Hill Cobalt Project ("BHCP")
2. Cobalt/Nickel Refinery
3. Cobalt in Waste Streams Project
"Reprocessing mining waste containing pyrite and recovering metals remains a focus for our business. Generally, the opportunities include cobalt-containing pyrite, along with other base and precious metal sulphides such as copper, zinc and gold," said Joe Kaderavek, COB's Chief Executive Officer.
COB has successfully developed a processing technology for recovering cobalt from pyrite at the BHCP. The 2020 BHCP project update reported cobalt recoveries of 85-86% from ore to final cobalt sulphate product (see ASX announcement dated 16/7/2020 "Broken Hill Cobalt Project (BHCP) Update 2020" available on COB's website).
COB holds no equity interest in Hudbay or in the Flin Flon Tailings Facility.
About Cobalt Blue Holdings Limited
Cobalt Blue Holdings Ltd (ASX:COB) (FRA:COH) (OTCMKTS:CBBHF) is an exploration and project development company. Work programs advancing the Broken Hill Cobalt Project in New South Wales continue. Our ambitious goals are subject to funding availability. Cobalt is a strategic metal in strong demand for new generation batteries, particularly lithium-ion batteries now being widely used in clean energy systems.
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