Refining
As part of Jubilee’s drive for total capability, the Company undertook a feasibility study including metallurgical testing, on the application of CVMR’s proprietary carbonyl refining CVMR technology for PGE- rich iron alloy from ConRoast. As consideration, and to secure the rights to CVMR technology, the Company issued 1.22 million Jubilee ordinary shares in December 2010 to CVMR. CVMR is a privately owned Canadian mining and processing company.
CVMR technology has been developed over a number of years and has proved its effectiveness in recovery, separation and refining of metals from ores, concentrates, mattes, slurries, and wastes and producing a range of refined base metals. In the case of ConRoast, a high-grade platinum group metals (PGEs) product is produced as a residue after the recovery, separation and refining of nickel, cobalt and iron in ConRoast PGE-rich iron alloy. The process is environmentally neutral and has been approved by environmental monitoring authorities in Canada, the USA, China and Germany. The Canadian and USA authorities have also recognized it as the most environmentally friendly of refining processes.
The trials have shown that carbonyl refining provides an efficient and cost-effective technology for recovering PGEs and base metals from the PGE-rich iron alloy produced by the ConRoast process.
Incorporation of CVMR technology into Sylvania’s future Volspruit operations is the subject of a joint scoping study scheduled for completion in 2011.