FPX Nickel Aims to Become Significant Low-Cost, Low-Carbon Producer with CEO Martin Turenne
FPX Nickel (TSXV:FPX; OTC:FPOCF) CEO Martin Turenne explains that the company will initiate a scoping study on its Baptiste deposit to further evaluate the option to produce nickel sulphate for the electric vehicle battery supply chain from the high-grade nickel concentrate produced by the company’s Baptiste Nickel Project in central British Columbia. This study incorporates the positive results of previous leaching test work on the clean, high-grade Baptiste nickel concentrate (63% nickel), which confirmed the Project’s potential to be a significant supplier of high-purity feedstock for the EV battery market.
“We expect this scoping study to demonstrate that Baptiste could become a globally significant producer of low-cost, low-carbon nickel for electric vehicles for decades to come,” commented Martin Turenne, FPX’s President and CEO. “Baptiste’s awaruite nickel mineralization has clear technical advantages over sulphide and laterite ores for producing nickel sulphate, owing to the extremely high nickel content and low levels of impurities in the nickel concentrate produced in previous metallurgical test programs. Our scoping work will evaluate the potential for the production of low-carbon, battery-grade nickel sulphate from awaruite mineralization in a simple three-stage process encompassing beneficiation, pressure leaching, and solvent extraction,” continued Mr. Turenne. “This three-stage processing route has the potential to be more efficient and entail lower cost and carbon emissions than the typically more complex processes required to convert sulphide and laterite ores into nickel sulphate.”
