Zenyatta Plunges 24 Percent on Metallurgical Process Update

Zenyatta Ventures Ltd. (TSXV:ZEN) was down 24.56 percent as of 12:00 p.m. EST after releasing an update on metallurgical process development at its Ontario-based Albany hydrothermal graphite deposit.

The company pointed to the following highlights:

• A higher grade flotation concentrate of up to 92.5% graphitic carbon (‘Cg’) was produced compared to the previous 78.3% Cg concentrate;
  • For the first time a fully engineered purification process has been completed providing data for energy requirements, water treatment, reagent consumption & equipment sizing;
• Optimization of NaOH consumption was achieved such that re-cycling was eliminated thereby reducing costs related to introduction of re-cycling engineering & equipment;
  • Significant (~86%) reduction in the NaOH reagent dosage;
• A technically feasible & distinctive process flow sheet was developed and work continues to fully optimize it to meet customer expectations on purity.

Though Zenyatta said it’s “made significant progress improving upon the bench scale caustic bake process and an innovative, viable flow sheet has been developed,” investors nevertheless seem disappointed that the flotation concentrate grade — though improved to 92.5 percent graphitic carbon from 78.3 percent — was not higher. There also seems to be some concern about the pace at which activity is moving forward.

On that note, President CEO Aubrey Eveleigh said:

Process optimization (cost cutting, simplifying equipment, eliminating caustic re-cycling) was a success. The SGS test work has resulted in a ‘thinking outside the box’ robust process. While SGS has made significant progress on the metallurgical work, designing an innovative new process takes time and the timelines for completion are difficult to forecast accurately. Our priority is on defining the best possible process and meeting customer expectations on product quality for a broad range of applications with demanding specifications. The engineering work completed to date has been much more detailed than is normal for a project at the preliminary economic assessment (PEA) stage.

Click here to read the full Zenyatta Ventures Ltd. (TSXV:ZEN) press release.