… Spider Resources is currently awaiting the actual assayed results from twenty holes drilled on the Big Daddy chromite-"pge" enriched deposit in this current drill campaign… drilling commenced Sept. 26th, visuals are released (refer to news in recent updates-top of home page)… initial testing also revealed the presence of “PGE’s”, or platinum group elements along with the chromite, and methods of identifying each platinum group element and %’s are much more tedious and time consuming than for most all other elements…. results of these assays will be released when ready, and since it’s been eights weeks to date that we’ve waited, can’t be too much longer can it… I’m hoping they will begin releasing these assays sometime within the next couple weeks at the latest… …regards,kelsee
Metallurgical Update (this clip taken from Oct. 14th release)
http://agoracom.com/ir/Spider/forums/discussion/topics/371846-exploration-update-on-the-big-daddy-chromite-prospect/messages/1239752#message
The companies are pleased to report that it has received the results of scoping level mineral beneficiation test work conducted by SGS Lakefield Research Limited and a geometallugical study conducted by Cliffs Natural Resources on the Big Daddy Chromite Prospect. These early stage studies will guide both ongoing sampling requirements during drilling and subsequent resource modelling and beneficiaton studies.
The result of conducting gravity separation test on eight samples covering the range from low grade to high grade led to the following conclusions;
0.מ€ˆ.Some of the massive chromite has a grade >40% Cr2O3 which can be considered direct shipping ore with 1.9 Cr:Fe ratio
0.מ€ˆ.medium grade ore, 20-40% Cr2O3, can be upgraded to saleable material
0.מ€ˆ.The average of 110 SEM-EDS analyses of chromite grains by Cliffs are; 7.4% MgO, 12.64% Al2O3, 0.54% TiO2, 51.29% Cr2O3, and 27.46% FeO.
A sulphide flotation test of the chromitite produced a concentrate containing 14 g/t palladium, 3 g/t platinum, and 1 g/t gold. An evaluation of the distribution of all 6 PGE's is underway. The minerals sperrylite (PtAs2) and stibiopalladinite (Pd3Sb) and an unkown compound of Os-Ru-As-S were identified by Cliffs in a hanging wall pyroxenite sample containing 2.24 g/t palladium and 2.36 g/t platinum over 0.5 metres.
Platinum group:
Platinum group metals
Ru/Rh/Pd/Os/Ir/Pt
The six platinum group metals are ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, osmium, iridium, and platinum. They have similar physical and chemical properties, and tend to occur together in the same mineral deposits.[1
Properties
The platinum metals have outstanding catalytic properties. They are highly resistant to wear and tarnish, making platinum, in particular, well suited for fine jewelry. Other distinctive properties include resistance to chemical attack, excellent high-temperature characteristics, and stable electrical properties. All these properties have been exploited for industrial applications.[4]
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Sources
Platinum
Sperrylite (platinum arsenide, PtAs2) ore is a major source of this metal. A naturally occurring platinum-iridium alloy, platiniridium, is found in the mineral cooperite (platinum sulfide, PtS). Platinum in a native state, often accompanied by small amounts of other platinum metals, is found in alluvial and placer deposits in Colombia, Ontario, the Ural Mountains, and in certain western American states. Platinum is also produced commercially as a by-product of nickel ore processing. The huge quantities of nickel ore processed makes up for the fact that platinum makes up only two parts per million of the ore. South Africa, with vast platinum ore deposits in the Merensky Reef of the Bushveld complex, is the world's largest producer of platinum, followed by Russia.[5][6] Platinum and palladium are also mined commercially from the Stillwater igneous complex in Montana, USA.
Osmium
Iridiosmium is a naturally occurring alloy of iridium and osmium found in platinum-bearing river sands in the Ural Mountains and in North and South America. Trace amounts of osmium also exist in nickel-bearing ores found in the Sudbury, Ontario region along with other platinum group metals. Even though the quantity of platinum metals found in these ores is small, the large volume of nickel ores processed makes commercial recovery possible.[6][7]
Iridium
Metallic iridium is found with platinum and other platinum group metals in alluvial deposits. Naturally occurring iridium alloys include osmiridium and iridiosmium, both of which are mixtures of iridium and osmium. It is recovered commercially as a by-product from nickel mining and processing.[6]
Ruthenium
Ruthenium is generally found in ores with the other platinum group metals in the Ural Mountains and in North and South America. Small but commercially important quantities are also found in pentlandite extracted from Sudbury, Ontario and in pyroxenite deposits in South Africa.[6]
Rhodium
The industrial extraction of rhodium is complex as the metal occurs in ores mixed with other metals such as palladium, silver, platinum, and gold. It is found in platinum ores and obtained free as a white inert metal which is very difficult to fuse. Principal sources of this element are located in river sands of the Ural Mountains, in North and South America and also in the copper-nickel sulfide mining area of the Sudbury Basin region. Although the quantity at Sudbury is very small, the large amount of nickel ore processed makes rhodium recovery cost effective. However, the annual world production of this element is only 7 or 8 tons and there are very few rhodium minerals.[8][dead link]
Palladium
Palladium is found as a free metal and alloyed with platinum and gold with platinum group metals in placer deposits of the Ural Mountains of Eurasia, Australia, Ethiopia, South and North America. However it is commercially produced from nickel-copper deposits found in South Africa and Ontario, Canada. The huge volume of nickel-copper ore processed makes this extraction profitable in spite of its low concentration in these ores.[8][dead link]
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Production
The production of pure platinum group metals normally starts from residues of the production of other metals with a mixture of several of those metals. One typical starting product is the anode residue of gold or nickel production. The differences in chemical reactivity and solubility of several compounds of the metals under extraction are used to separate them.[4]
A first step is to dissolve all the metals in aqua regia forming their respective nitrates. If silver is still present, this is then separated by forming insoluble silver chloride. Rhodium sulfate is separated after the salts have been melted together with sodium hydrogensulfate and leached with water. The residue is then melted together with sodium peroxide, which dissolves all the metals and leaves the iridium. The two remaining metals, ruthenium and osmium, form ruthenium and osmium tetroxides after chlorine has been added to solution. The osmium tetroxide is then dissolved in alcoholic sodium hydroxide and separated from the ruthenium tetroxides. All of these metals' final chemical compounds can ultimately be reduced to the elemental metal using hydrogen.[4]
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Production in nuclear reactors
Significant quantities of platinum group metals - Ruthenium, Rhodium and Palladium are formed as fission products in nuclear reactors.[9] With escalating prices and increasing global demand, reactor produced noble metals are emerging as an alternative source. Various reports are available on the possibility of recovering fission noble metals from spent nuclear fuel.[10][11][12]
Recently[when?] there is an upsurge in the recovery of valuable fission products which reflects in the form of articles in leading scientific journals. Palladium has been of special interest due to its less complex behavior when compared to rhodium and ruthenium. The special interest in palladium may be also due to its widespread application in chemical catalysis and the electronics industry. Several research groups are exploring the possibility of recovering palladium by various methods like direct electrolysis of high-level liquid waste [13][14], using room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) as electrolyte for nuclear fuel dissolution and recovery [15], solvent extraction, ion exchange, etc. Room temperature ionic liquids have been employed to recover rhodium [16], and ruthenium [17] also recently
