Cyclone (ASX:CLE) produce world class concentrate at Block 103

Cyclone Metals‘ first phase of metallurgical test work on its Canadian tentpole Block 103/Iron Bear Magnetite Iron Ore Project has simply and successfully produced a world class Direct Reduction magnetite concentrate.

The concentrate graded at 70.6% iron with very low deleterious elements, silica levels beneath 1.2% and a high recovery rate exceeding 80% for total iron.

Even through slow Chinese economic growth, the price of iron has proved remarkably resilient, and by adding a simple reverse flotation step to the Iron Bear Blast Furnace concentrate, Cyclone can expect a market price of US$167 per tonne and a premium of 30 US bucks above the 62% Fe benchmark.

Cyclone Chief Executive Officer Paul Berend said demonstrating an easily produced world class concentrate was another very exciting milestone in the development of Iron Bear.

“If we can demonstrate that our DR concentrate is a good source material to produce DR grade pellets, then we will be able to provide European steel producers with a realistic solution to reduce the carbon footprint of their existing blast furnace-based steel mills,” Mr Berend said.

We still have months of test work ahead of us to conclusively demonstrate this – but we will be able to provide steel mills with large bulk samples of both products as early as Q1 next year. This should enable us to start meaningful JV discussions.”

And with an optimum process flow sheet and the associated mass and energy balances now defined and calibrated, Cyclone has a major part ticked off for its pilot plant design and scoping studies now underway.

Production of bulk samples of both BF and DR magnetite concentrates using an industrial grade pilot plant is now planned to begin next week.

Production roadmap