Nickel Extraction Rate Reaches 97.2% in Pressure Oxidation Test for the Nikolai Nickel-Copper Project in the United States

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On November 6, Canadian mining company Alaska Energy Metals Corporation announced the latest pressure oxidation hydrometallurgical test results for the Eureka deposit of the Nikolai nickel-copper project in Alaska, United States. The test used Lifezone's proprietary hydrometallurgical technology to process a mixed nickel-copper sulfide concentrate obtained from flotation, achieving nickel, copper, and cobalt extraction rates of 97.2%, 99.3%, and 98.9%, respectively, and platinum, palladium, and gold extraction rates of 99.5%, 86.1%, and 47.8%, respectively.

This hydrometallurgical test was completed by the Simulus laboratory in Welshpool, Western Australia. The test feed came from the mixed concentrate produced by closed-circuit flotation tests on the Eureka deposit, with the sample containing 8.0% nickel, 4.0% copper, and 0.29% cobalt, and platinum, palladium, and gold grades of 2.19 g/t, 4.80 g/t, and 0.51 g/t, respectively. Through pressure oxidation and subsequent solution treatment, the laboratory determined the extraction percentages of six metals from the concentrate into solution.

The company also completed the fourth round of closed-circuit flotation tests (LCT-4), eliminating the secondary grinding step after the first cleaner stage. The nickel, copper, and cobalt flotation recoveries obtained in the test were 54.3%, 57.4%, and 26.2%, respectively, representing increases of 4.9, 6.9, and 5.2 percentage points compared with the previous round of results announced on July 16, 2026. The platinum, palladium, and gold flotation recoveries were 43.1%, 42.5%, and 43.5%, respectively, representing decreases of 6.0, 0.6, and 0.4 percentage points compared with the previous round of tests.

The mixed concentrate obtained from the LCT-4 test had nickel, copper, and cobalt grades of 5.79%, 3.15%, and 0.23%, respectively, and platinum, palladium, and gold grades of 1.03 g/t, 2.63 g/t, and 0.66 g/t, respectively. The company plans to send this lower-grade concentrate to the Simulus laboratory to continue verifying the metal extraction performance of the pressure oxidation process.

Based on the results of this test, Alaska Energy Metals Corporation will further evaluate process options including full or partial pressure oxidation, single-stage metal extraction via chlorinated pressure oxidation, and two-stage leaching. Follow-up studies will compare incremental metal extraction, reagent consumption, and equipment and materials requirements, and conduct further refining tests on the selected process.