VANCOUVER, BC, May 31, 2022
/CNW/ - FPX Nickel Corp. (TSXV: FPX) ("FPX" or the
"Company") is pleased to report the results of new testing
which continues to demonstrate the potential for enhanced carbon
capture and storage ("CCS") in tailings at its Baptiste
Project (the "Project") in the Decar Nickel District in
central British Columbia. These
laboratory tests, conducted by researchers from the University of British Columbia ("UBC")
funded by FPX and the Government of Canada, were conducted on tailings
representative of different operating scenarios at Baptiste, and
demonstrate the ability of these representative tailings to
sequester CO2 into a permanent mineralized form, thereby
advancing the Project's potential to become the nickel industry's
first carbon-neutral or carbon-negative operation.
Highlights
- The positive results of these CO2 injection tests
were achieved on material representative of various tailings
deposition strategies for the Project, specifically in regard to
the material's particle size, moisture level, and content of the
key carbon-reactive mineral (brucite)
- 10% CO2 gas was injected vertically into these
tailings samples and consistent rates of carbon mineralization were
achieved in all tests, ranging from 7.3 to 8.4 grams of
CO2 sequestered for each kilogram of Baptiste tailings,
with a majority of the sequestration occurring in the first quarter
(3.5 days) of the 14-day experiment
- The CO2 mineralization achieved during these tests
is both permanent and verifiable by measurement of total inorganic
carbon at the beginning and the end of the experiments
Cautionary Statement: The test results described herein are
preliminary in nature and may not be representative of conditions
or results in an operating environment, particularly as it pertains
to the representativeness of mineralization, moisture content,
changes in weather conditions, process water chemistry and tailings
emplacement configuration, including the rate at which tailings are
covered with fresh material, among other parameters. There is no
certainty that the results reported herein will be realized in an
operating environment. Further studies are recommended to expand
the scale of testing to better understand the potential for carbon
sequestration to be realized in an operating environment.
"Since 2016, FPX has been a leader in defining the opportunity
for large-scale permanent CCS in the mining industry," commented
Martin Turenne, the Company's
President and CEO. "These new results were achieved using
representative tailings material generated from the 2021
metallurgical testing pilot plant program, highlighting our
interest in moving beyond idealized experimental conditions to
advance the scientific understanding of carbon mineralization in a
practical, real-world context. With further work required to
estimate the likely quantum of carbon sequestration in an
operational setting, we continue to advance toward our objective of
developing Baptiste as the nickel industry's first carbon-neutral
or carbon-negative operation."
These laboratory tests build on more than a decade of research
to maximize the reaction between CO2 and brucite
(magnesium hydroxide), a highly CO2-reactive mineral
form of magnesium hydroxide present in the Baptiste mine tailings,
as opposed to serpentine, olivine and other silicates which are the
common constituents of other nickel and mafic rock tailings. In a
natural process called carbon mineralization, CO2 reacts
with brucite, and to a very much less extent with serpentine
minerals in the Baptiste tailings and waste rock, binding the
CO2 in a benign, solid magnesium carbonate which is
stable on a geological time scale.
Previous laboratory and field tests conducted by UBC researchers
have confirmed the ability of Baptiste tailings material to
mineralize CO2 when exposed to air (see the Company's
news releases dated February 16 and
June 9, 2021) and when subjected to
direct injection of simulated flue gas containing 10%
CO2 (see the Company's news release dated November 2, 2021).
The laboratory-scale tests summarized herein were designed to
assess the sequestration potential by injection of CO2
gas into material representative of three types of tailings
samples, as described below and shown in Figure 1. Both tailings
storage scenarios are representative of tailings produced at the
Project's envisioned primary grind P80 = 300 µm.
- Figure 1, Scenario 1, Tailings Type 1 – Whole tailings
deposited behind a rock/earth-fill dam tailings storage facility
("TSF"), and
- Figure 1, Scenario 2, Tailings Types 2 and 3 – Separated coarse
and fine tailings fractions as required for construction of and
deposition within a cyclone sand TSF, including:
-
- Type 2: Coarse tailings (cyclone underflow) comprising
approximately 20% fines (material passing 75 µm), representative of
dam construction material for a sand dam TSF, and
- Type 3: Residual fine tailings (cyclone overflow) with nearly
all material under 75 µm (97% passing), representative of the
material expected to be stored within a sand dam TSF.
![Figure 1 – Conceptual Rendering of Tailings Storage Facilities Showing Tailings Material Types (CNW Group/FPX Nickel Corp.) Figure 1 – Conceptual Rendering of Tailings Storage Facilities Showing Tailings Material Types (CNW Group/FPX Nickel Corp.)](https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1828696/FPX_Nickel_Corp__FPX_Nickel_Testing_Continues_to_Demonstrate_Pot.jpg)
Injection experiments were prepared by placing the three
tailings samples in vertical pipes which were injected with
simulated flue gas containing 10% CO2 at a rate of 4 mL
per minute over 14 days. The experiments were conducted on
Baptiste pilot plant tailings material, which was generated from
drill core. The experimented were completed in batches weighing
approximately 0.5 kilograms, with moisture content ranging from 10
to 14%, and with brucite content of 1.3 to 1.6%, consistent with
the estimated 1.5% average brucite content of the Baptiste
deposit.
The key findings of the experiment are as follows:
- Consistent rates of carbon mineralization were achieved in all
tests, ranging from 7.3 to 8.4 grams of CO2 sequestered
for each kilogram of Types 1, 2, and 3, with a minimum of 70% and a
maximum of 99% of the brucite present in the Baptiste tailings
consumed in the mineralization reaction
- Type 1 (whole tailings) had the highest carbon mineralization
and type 3 (cyclone overflow) the lowest indicating the
significance of particle size on the circulation of CO2
to the surface of brucite grains
- Significant rates of carbon mineralization were noted on a
continuous basis in all tests, with rates typically peaking on the
first day and declining over the course of the test
- Over 60% of the CO2 was mineralized in the first 3.5
days based on measurements of CO2 concentrations at the
inlet and the outlet
- The CO2 mineralization achieved during the tests is
both permanent and verifiable by measurement of total inorganic
carbon at the beginning and the end of the experiments
These positive findings provide the basis for additional testing
to expand the understanding and optimization of parameters
affecting carbon mineralization in the Baptiste tailings, including
the impacts of scale, grain size, porosity, permeability, moisture
content, temperature, method of injection and concentration of
CO2, and time. Future test work will underpin the
Company's efforts to optimize these parameters in the Baptiste
development plan. These results also open the possibility of
mineralizing CO2 ex-situ in waste rock, in-situ by
injection of CO2 into the host rock, or ex-situ
injection of CO2 into associated carbon-depleted waters
drawn from host rocks in areas of the Decar Nickel District, or in
rocks of similar type and mineralogy elsewhere in B.C. and
beyond.
Verification Methodology
Samples of the test material were submitted for analysis of
total inorganic carbon ("TIC") at the
beginning and the end of the experiments, with the increase in TIC
representing the amount of CO2 captured during the
experiment.
Next Steps
As previously disclosed, the Company is expanding the size and
scope of carbon sequestration testing, with the recent initiation
of two direct air capture experiments in the third quarter of
2021:
- Six-month experiment at a location in Vancouver on approximately 2.4 tonnes of
tailings material, or approximately eight times the scale of the
2020 experiment (see the Company's news release dated June 9, 2021).
- 1-year experiment at a location in central British Columbia on approximately 300 kg of
tailings material, designed to better understanding the longer-term
carbon sequestration potential of undisturbed tailings in the
Project region.
The Company will report the results of these experiments upon
the conclusion of testing in the third or fourth quarter of
2022.
Dr. Peter Bradshaw, P. Eng.,
FPX's Qualified Person under NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved
the technical content of this news release.
About the Decar Nickel
District
The Company's Decar Nickel District claims cover 245
km2 of the Mount Sidney Williams ultramafic/ophiolite
complex, 90 km northwest of Fort St.
James in central British
Columbia. The district is a two-hour drive from Fort St. James on a high-speed logging
road.
Decar hosts a greenfield discovery of nickel mineralization in
the form of a naturally occurring nickel-iron alloy called awaruite
(Ni3Fe), which is amenable to bulk-tonnage, open-pit
mining. Awaruite mineralization has been identified in four target
areas within this ophiolite complex, being the Baptiste Deposit,
and the B, Sid and Van targets, as confirmed by drilling,
petrographic examination, electron probe analyses and outcrop
sampling on all four targets. Since 2010, approximately US
$28 million has been spent on the
exploration and development of Decar.
Of the four targets in the Decar Nickel District, the Baptiste
Deposit, which was initially the most accessible and had the
biggest known surface footprint, has been the focus of diamond
drilling since 2010, with a total of 99 holes and 33,700 m of drilling completed. The Sid target
was tested with two holes in 2010 and the B target had a single
hole drilled in 2011; all three holes intersected nickel-iron alloy
mineralization over wide intervals with DTR nickel grades
comparable to the Baptiste Deposit. The Van target was not
drill-tested at that time as bedrock exposures in the area were
very poor prior to more recent logging activity. In 2021, the
Company executed a maiden drilling program at Van, which has
returned promising results comparable with the strongest results at
Baptiste.
About FPX Nickel Corp.
FPX Nickel Corp. is focused on the exploration and development
of the Decar Nickel District, located in central British Columbia, and other occurrences of the
same unique style of naturally occurring nickel-iron alloy
mineralization known as awaruite. For more information, please view
the Company's website at www.fpxnickel.com or contact
Martin Turenne, President and CEO,
at (604) 681-8600 or ceo@fpxnickel.com.
On behalf of FPX Nickel Corp.
"Martin Turenne"
Martin Turenne, President, CEO and
Director
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain of the statements made and information contained
herein is considered "forward-looking information" within the
meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. These statements
address future events and conditions and so involve inherent risks
and uncertainties, as disclosed in the Company's periodic filings
with Canadian securities regulators. Actual results could differ
from those currently projected. The Company does not assume the
obligation to update any forward-looking statement.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services
Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of
this release.
SOURCE FPX Nickel Corp.