Jaguar Nickel fires up pilot plant (December 08, 2003)

Junior Jaguar Nickel (JNI-T) has started up a pilot plant designed to test the viability of its proprietary atmospheric chloride-leach process on ore samples from the Sechol nickel-cobalt laterite project in Guatemala.

The plant is part of the Mississauga, Ont., facilities of metallurgical consultants Process Research ORTECH (PRO). Overseeing the program are Jaguar’s chief technical officer, Bryn Harris, and ORTECH’s V.I. Lakshmanan and R. Sridhar.

The equipment has been water-tested, and processing of the saprolite horizon is under way.

Jagual notes that preliminary laboratory testing of the three key horizons — saprolite, limonite and transition (mottled) — of the Sechol property showed that “excellent nickel and cobalt recoveries could be achieved from all horizons.”

The current phase of pilot plant testing will continue into the first quarter of 2004.

As described in a feature story in our Oct. 20 issue, Jaguar’s process for handling nickel laterites involves four basic steps: nickel and cobalt are brought into solution with an acid-chloride leach; residual impurities such as iron are removed; recycled magnesia is used to precipitate a mixed nickel-cobalt hydroxide; and finally, pyrohydrolysis is employed to recover hydrochloric acid and magnesia.

The process allows the entire laterite profile (that is, limonite and saprolite, both of which are present in Guatemala) to be processed, virtually doubling reserves and greatly simplifying the mining plan.

Earlier in November, Jaguar raised gross proceeds of $25 million in a private placement of 20 million special warrants priced at $1.25 apiece, with each special warrant exercisable into one share and one warrant to buy another share for $1.75 each until Nov. 15, 2004.

The offering was completed by a syndicate of underwriters led by Scotia Capital and including Octagon Capital, Orion Securities and Northern Securities. Funds are earmarked for exploration at Sechol and for development of the atmospheric chloride-leach process.

ORTECH was formed in January 1999 to take over the Process Technologies division of ORTECH Corp. (formerly the Ontario Research Foundation) under the privatization plan of the Ontario government.