Kipoi's cobalt can be recovered - study

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – A study into the viability of the cobalt resource at the Kipoi copper project, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has delivered positive results.

ASX-listed Tiger Resources said on Friday that the study concluded that, based on the expected nameplate copper cathode production level of 32 500 t, there was sufficient cobalt potential within the current Kipoi copper leach circuit to justify further studies.

"We have a latent amount of cobalt in the system that we’ve known about for many years, and until recent times the cobalt price hasn’t been sufficient to make putting this into production worthwhile. But the price is now pretty attractive," Tiger MD and CEO Michael Griffiths told the Africa Downunder conference on Friday.

The study, undertaken by Mintrex, identified two potential cobalt process routes, including an intermediate recovery and cobalt refining.

The processing pathways could be developed progressively or in stages, and Mintrex has recommended the development of a cobalt hydroxide circuit to produce a cobalt hydroxide intermediate product as a first step, with capital costs for this estimated at around $22-million for a 1 000 t/y circuit.

Tiger said the company would scope a metallurgical testwork programme to confirm the commercial process flow sheets and to firm-up the capital cost and estimate likely operating costs.

This testwork was expected to be completed by December.

"We are looking at cobalt as being something that will add significant value to the operations over the 16 year life-of-mine [at Kipoi]," Griffiths said.