Queensland Pacific Metals

First 4N HPA Production for QPM from New Caledonian Ore

Queensland Pacific Metals Ltd (ASX:QPM) (“QPM” or “the Company”) is pleased to announce that lab scale testwork undertaken by Lava Blue has successfully produced 4N High Purity Alumina (“HPA”) from aluminium hydroxide feedstock produced by QPM as part of its piloting of the DNi ProcessTM on New Caledonian ore. The purity of the HPA was 99.996%.


Highlights

  • Lab scale testwork undertaken by Lava Blue successfully produces 99.996% HPA from aluminium hydroxide feedstock produced by QPM in its pilotplant.
  • This represents the first major milestone in the QPM – Lava Blue working relationship post execution of the HPA license heads of agreement.
  • Successful HPA production provides QPM with the confidence to proceed with further testwork and the HPA section of the Defintive Feasibility Study for the TECHProject.

In December 2021, QPM executed a License Heads of Agreement with Lava Blue regarding the use of its proprietary HPA technology for the TECH Project. One of the key early workstreams in this partnership was the successful production of HPA from QPM’s aluminium hydroxide feedstock. The success of this testwork provides QPM with the confidence to commence the next phase of testwork and to finalise the appointment of Stantec (formerly known as Engenium), Lava Blue’s preferred engineering consultant, to undertake the HPA refinery section of the TECH Project Definitive Feasibility Study (“DFS”) in conjunction with Hatch (QPM’s engineering partner).

Testwork

QPM’s pilot plant operation produced intermediate aluminium hydroxide from New Caledonian ore. Previous testwork undertaken by QPM was successful in producing high purity aluminium chloride, the final precursor to HPA. Aluminium chloride produced by QPM was sent to Lava Blue for testwork at its Queensland University of Technology (“QUT”) laboratory.

Lava Blue’s work program was to:

  • Confirm that 4N HPA could be successfully produced from QPM’s aluminium chloride precursor by assaying impurities;
  • Produce 4N HPA from the aluminium chloride.

Lava Blue’s testwork confirmed that QPM’s aluminium chloride was very pure. From the assay results of QPM’s aluminium chloride, Lava Blue projected HPA purity to be in the range of 99.995 – 99.998%, giving it confidence to proceed with the second part of the work program.

Click here for the full ASX Release

This article includes content from Queensland Pacific Metals, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.

QPM:AU
The Conversation (0)
Element 25 Limited

Element 25 Signs US$85M Supply Deal with GM for Manganese Sulphate

Element 25 (ASX:E25) has signed a deal with General Motors (NYSE:GM) to supply the car manufacturer 32,500 tonnes of manganese sulphate annually, according to a news report by Reuters.

Keep reading...Show less
Ni-Co Energy

Ni-Co Energy

Keep reading...Show less
Nickel block on periodic table, highlighting element nickel, atomic number 28.

Western Mines Completes Maiden Resource for Mulga Tank Nickel Deposit

Western Mines Group (ASX:WMG) has completed the first mineral resource estimate for the shallow disseminated nickel sulphide mineralisation at its flagship Mulga Tank project.

Located on the Minigwal greenstone belt in Western Australia's Eastern Goldfields region, Mulga Tank is a nickel, cobalt, copper and platinum-group metals (PGMs) project.

According to Western Mines, the resource estimate is based on all of its drill results to date, and outlines a "significant mineralised zone" in the main body of the Mulga Tank complex.

Keep reading...Show less
Canadian flag draped over "Ni" symbol and stock chart.

Top 5 Canadian Nickel Stocks of 2025

Nickel prices experienced a volatile year in 2024 due to uncertainty on both the demand and supply sides.

This trend has continued into the first quarter of 2025 and is expected to remain for the year.

While this environment has been tough, some nickel stocks are still thriving.

Keep reading...Show less
Drill core samples in box.

Top 5 Canadian Mining Stocks This Week: Noble Mineral Exploration Gains 114 Percent on Nickel Assays

Welcome to the Investing News Network's weekly look at the best-performing Canadian mining stocks on the TSX, TSXV and CSE, starting with a round-up of Canadian and US news impacting the resource sector.

This week, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics released key inflation data, including its consumer and producer price index data on Wednesday (March 12) and Thursday (March 13). The reports show all items inflation was up 2.8 percent year-over-year in February, while core inflation — all items minus food and energy — was up 3.1 percent over that period. Both rose by 0.2 percent compared to January.

The numbers show that inflation has largely become stuck and is still far from the 2 percent target rate set by the US Federal Reserve. The data provides further insight into the health of the overall economy ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting next week. The consensus among analysts is the Fed will choose to maintain its benchmark rate at 4.25 to 5 percent.

Keep reading...Show less

Latest Press Releases

Related News

×