Resource World Magazine

58 www.resourceworld.com O C T O B E R / N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 8 Australian Update by Greg Barns R obert Friedland is a well-known name in the mining world and you might be interested to know he is now in the cobalt, nickel and scandium space just as demand for those metals heats up with the rapid expansion of the elec- tric vehicles market. Friedland holds 12.9% of the stock in Clean TeQ Limited [CLQ-TSX, ASX] which is a significant cobalt-nickel- scandium project in western New South Wales, Australia that has excellent infrastructure and local support. The company holds 100% of the Clean TeQ Sunrise Project 350 km west of Sydney which hosts a laterite (iron-hosted) resource, described by Clean TeQ as "rich in nickel, cobalt and scandium". It also owns the Clean iX® technology which enables "highly efficient extraction and purification for a range of valuable strategic metals from slurries and solutions". Clean TeQ has a buyer for its product and signed a binding offtake agreement last year with Beijing Easpring Material Technology Co. to supply hydrated cobalt sulphate and nickel sulphate products from Clean TeQ Sunrise. China, the company believes, is leading the race for the development of the electric car market with government poli - cies geared towards ensuring emission controls drive automobile technology. Today, cobalt is a hot metal, not only because of its electric vehicles use, but because so much production comes from just one country – the Democratic Republic of Congo. Clean TeQ also points out that nickel sulphate capacity needs to grow because less than 50% of the current global nickel production is suitable for battery applications. Clean TeQ Sunrise also has one of the world's largest and highest grade scandium resources. This metal is used to provide next generation lightweight aluminium alloys in the transportation market. Clean TeQ Sunrise resources are 101 million tonnes at 0.13% cobalt for contained cobalt metal of 132,000 tonnes, using a 0.06% cobalt cut-off. The nickel grade is 0.59% for 593,000 tonnes of contained nickel. Of this total resource, 86% is in the measured and indicated categories. The scandium resource is 45.7 million tonnes of 420 ppm scandium for 19,222 tonnes of con - tained metal, using a 300 ppm cut-off. Of this total resource, 27% is in the measured and indicated categories. An important recent milestone for Clean TeQ is the release of its Definitive Feasibility Study in June this year. The DFS modelled the first 25 years of production, with sufficient ore reserves to extend beyond 40 years. It forecasts average annual production over 10 years of 19,260 tonnes nickel and 4,420 tonnes cobalt. Average annual scandium oxide production is forecast at 80 tpa. Capital cost estimate sits at US $1.49 billion including contingency and averages an EBITDA of US $344 million a year for the modelled life-of-mine. Completion of the DFS allows Clean TeQ "to progress the next phase of development milestones, including finalization of offtake agreements, completion of project financing and commencement of construction subject to the final investment decision, targeted for the first half of 2019." Chinese input into the Clean TeQ Sunrise Project deepened with the recent announcement of signing a Heads of Agreement with Metallurgical Corporation of China Ltd. (MCC), part of the China Minmetals Corp., which will see MCC and one of its subsid - iaries, China ENFI Engineering Corp. (ENFI), work with Clean TeQ to "manage project scope, critical design criteria and equipment and materials selection." The deal will also see MCC engaged in "detailed engineering and construction of the process plant infra- structure." n Friedland participating in Clean TeQ's cobalt-nickel-scandium project

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