Kogi Iron Ltd tests have confirmed that using standard crushing and washing the ore from the Agbaja Iron Ore Project in Nigeria produces an upgraded concentrate suitable for smelting.
The company will now carry out stage II test work, which involves pre-reduction of the concentrate followed by smelting in an electric arc furnace to produce a pig iron.
This work is expected to be completed by the end of March 2018.
Stage III refining is then intended to confirm ideal refining conditions for impurity removal and converting the pig iron into steel with a chemical composition suitable for steel billet manufacture.
Refining test work will also establish commercial production viability and include sample analysis.
It is expected that stage III will be concluded by the end of May 2018.
Following this, a final technical report will be produced in stage IV process modelling and reporting in June 2018.
This will include a detailed flowsheet design for the treatment of Kogi ore to provide iron ore feedstock for the production of steel billets.
The flowsheet design will be used to complete the definitive feasibility study and ultimately to facilitate debt and equity funding for the project.
Agbaja has a total indicated and inferred resource of 586.3 million tonnes at 41.3% iron, including 466.2 million tonnes in the indicated category.
Credit: Proactive Investors
