Much to like with recent news released , exciting times ahead .
As recently announced Avela Asset Management PTD Ltd has increased its holding
Pure Minerals to proceed with game changing Queensland Pacific Metals acquisition
Once the acquisition has been completed, Pure Minerals expects to have an enterprise value of $2.7 million.
Additionally, current QPM director and experienced lateritic nickel miner John Downie will join board of Pure Minerals.The market capitalisation of Australian Mines (ASX: AUZ) is $110 million, while Clean Teq (ASX: CLQ) is valued at $242 million – highlighting Pure Minerals’ potential.
According to Pure Minerals chairman Eddie King, the appeal of QPM’s ore supply agreements means the QPM acquisition is “de-risked”. No further investment in exploration is needed in discovering minerals and firming up an economic deposit, which can cost millions and take years.
Under the agreements, QPM will import 600,000 tonnes per annum of high-grade New Caledonian ore into Townsville where it plans to establish a new refinery producing nickel sulphate, cobalt sulphate and other valuable by-products.
The expected grade of the ore will be 1.6% nickel and 0.17% cobalt, in line with the ore previously exported to Townsville from New Caledonia during the early 2000s through to 2016.
Importantly, these ore grades are much higher than the resources of some advanced nickel and cobalt projects on Australia’s east coast, such as Australian Mines’ SCONI project (0.69% nickel and 0.05% cobalt) and Clean Teq’s Sunrise project (0.64% nickel and 0.13% cobalt) and are among the highest grades in the entire Asia Pacific.
QPM has also been collaborating with Australia’s top research body the CSIRO to evaluate the most economic processing option for transforming the mixed hydroxide precipitate into the battery-grade nickel and cobalt sulphate products.
Pure Minerals said it was confident the CSIRO flowsheet would ensure the final products met the “most demanding of battery manufacturer specifications”.
