5N Purity Confirms Tampu as Premier Specification for HPA
Perth, June 30, 2022 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Corella Resources Ltd (
ASX:CR9) is pleased to announce it has achieved its stated HPA ("High Purity Alumina") objective by achieving 5N+(99.99957%) on a 25kg representative bulk composite sample from its 100% owned Tampu Project located near the town of Beacon, 270kms from Perth, Western Australia.
The outstanding metallurgical results combined with 5N+ purity have confirmed Tampu as Australia's largest and premier specification bright white kaolin deposit, particularly as feedstock for HPA applications.
Due to the extremely low levels of deleterious materials within the Tampu kaolin has allowed Corella to achieve these outstanding results via a simplified, lower cost and more environmentally friendly process flowsheet. The HPA market includes various technology applications including lithium ion batteries, LED lights and semi-conductors which can attract prices between ~$40,000 - $70,000 per ton.
Along with being Australia's premier specification kaolin deposit, Tampu has the scope to underpin multiple decades of production and the capacity to supply multiple high value markets via numerous scalable mining and processing options. The Company intends to increase its production profile as the demand for HPA increases in line with the uptake of batteries for green energy storage.
The Company will leverage its class leading position with a balanced approach, assessing all potential product streams including short-term direct shipping ore (DSO) options and progressing to a high end HPA product that attracts significantly higher prices.
Corella Resources Managing Director, Tony Cormack, commented "Results from our flagship project continue to confirm Tampu as Australia's best and largest resource of high purity bright white kaolin. The results also confirm that Tampu's purity levels exceed the specifications required for commercial 5N and 4N HPA feedstock."
"Being such a high purity HPA feedstock, Tampu can easily achieve both 5N & 4N purity through a simplified process. This process will be cheaper and a greener method than other existing flowsheets. Whilst we remain focussed on developing our HPA strategy, in the interim we will look to supply shorter term options, via several different high value product streams to fast-track revenue and maximise Tampu's production profile."
The outstanding HPA results achieved are detailed in Table 1*.
A critical factor for the use of kaolin as a feedstock in the HPA industry is the levels of iron impurities with a value of <=0.5% Fe2O3 considered low iron impurity. When the Tampu MRE1 is plotted spatially it demonstrates the consistent nature of the bright white kaolin deposit and highlights its amenability to a simple, shallow open pit operation (See Figure 1*).
Australia's Critical Minerals
As part of the 2022 Critical Minerals Strategy, the Australian government announced it has added high-purity alumina (HPA) to the critical minerals list. These minerals are used in a variety of technologies, including lithium-ion batteries and semiconductors which are growing industries globally.
The Company is extremely pleased with the inclusion of HPA to the list of Australia's Critical Minerals and the recognition of the role that HPA will play in the de-carbonisation of the planet.
The Tampu Deposit is displayed on the Map of Australia's Critical Minerals (See Figure 2 & 3*), the map highlights the projects proximity to key infrastructure including road, rail, power and port strengthening the case for value adding downstream processing of Tampu's premium HPA feedstock within Western Australia.
Critical minerals are defined as minerals and elements (solid and gaseous) that are vital for modern technology and whose supply may be at risk of disruption. The Australian critical minerals list comprises aluminium (high-purity alumina), antimony, beryllium, bismuth, chromium, cobalt, gallium, germanium, graphite, hafnium, helium, indium, lithium, magnesium, manganese, niobium, platinum group elements, rare earth elements, rhenium, silicon (high-purity quartz or silica), scandium, tantalum, titanium, tungsten, vanadium and zirconium.
Further exploration
The Company is currently securing a sonic drill rig for a second phase drill program aimed at increasing the size and improving the confidence of the inferred resource for conversion to Reserves to underpin forecast financial information and Project economics. The Tampu deposit remains open in all directions and has numerous high priority drill targets across the tenement package.
About the kaolin and HPA markets
Historically used in the paper and ceramics industry, kaolin is now viewed as a "white gold" new economy commodity, able to be processed into metakaolin or High Purity Alumina (HPA).
Kaolin is exceptionally well-suited natural material to produce High Purity Alumina (HPA) used in high end technology such as Lithium Ion Batteries (LIB).
The high purity bright white kaolin deposit at Tampu has extremely low levels of impurities, which is critical to all existing markets and end user products. The ultra-high purity distinguishes it as a leading kaolin project, particularly as feedstock for HPA applications.
Metakaolin is one of the best cement substitutes, and can improve concrete's flexibility and strength, reduce its permeability and the CO2 emissions in its manufacture by up to 40%. Given concretes massive use around the world, this has significant implications for a greener and more sustainable world.
HPA is in increasingly high demand as it is used in smartphones, LEDs and, most significantly, lithium-ion batteries, a keystone in the renewable energy revolution. Traditionally produced from aluminium metal, new technologies mean HPA can now be produced more economically and with a lower environmental footprint from kaolin. This is now fuelling an evergrowing interest in, and demand for, high quality kaolin.
*To view tables and figures, please visit:
https://abnnewswire.net/lnk/0IFRG9FK
About Corella Resources Ltd
Corella Resources is an Australian exploration company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX:CR9). Corella Resources is focussed on exploration and development of their 100% owned Tampu, Wiltshire and Kalannie kaolin projects along with the 100% owned Bonnie Rock silica project. All 4 projects are located in the mid-west of Western Australia.
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