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Toronto-based BacTech Environmental Corporation will have an operational pilot plant running in July in Sudbury.
The plant will use BacTech's pyrrhotite bioleaching technology for nickel, cobalt, sulphur, and iron waste recovery.
The objective of the pilot plan is to collect sufficient data to design a tonnage-based demonstrate plant, eventually leading to commercialisation.
The Sudbury Basin holds up to 100 million tonnes of pyrrhotite tailings produced over the past 90 years, BacTech said.
The development and construction of the bioleach pilot plant for nickel-cobalt will be led by Dr Nadia Mykytczuk, who also serves as interim chief executive of MIRARCO Mining Innovation.
"The pilot plant will simulate a commercial bioleach process consisting of a cascade of reactors operating on a continuous basis," the company said.
Also included in the plant will be front-end and back-end equipment operating separately and producing elemental sulphur, iron as feed for steelmaking, and oxidised residue conversion for construction materials.
One reactor is already completed and is being used to test select concentrates from BacTech's Tenguel-Ponce Enriquez bioleaching plant in Ecuador. BacTech is conducting bioleach testing from mines in Ponce Enriquez, Ecuador.
Earlier this month, the Canadian government launched a C$10.9 million fund to support construction of pilot plants and projects to develop critical mineral value chains.
