Dynatec, Phelps Dodge to try Madagascar laterite bet (August 18, 2003)

Mining-contractor-turned-miner Dynatec (DY-T) has taken an option to earn a 53% interest in the Ambatovy nickel laterite project in Madagascar from Phelps Dodge (PD-N).

Dynatec, which absorbed the technical metallurgical consulting operations of Sherritt International (S-T) a few years ago, will become operator of the project and be obliged to spend US$20 million on exploration. The company will finance a feasibility study, to be completed by mid-2004, and provide licences to use its metallurgical technologies.

Ambatovy, which is 130 km east of the capital, Antananarivo, has a resource of 190 million tonnes grading 1.1% nickel and 0.1% cobalt. It is a flat-lying, near-surface laterite that could be pitted easily, and metallurgical tests indicate that pressure-acid-leaching may work as an extraction method.

Metallurgical work to date suggests that the mineralization offers high leaching rates and low acid consumption. Dynatec plans further testing on the material, at both batch-test and pilot-plant scales.

The current framework for the feasibility study has the deposit producing 50,000 tonnes nickel and 4,000 tonnes cobalt per year for at least 20 years.