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MINING | Andromeda Metals
ANDROMEDA METALS On the path to industrial metals production in South Australia
Resource Global Network
MINING | Andromeda Metals
At the start of 2017, ASX-listed some industrial minerals, according to Marsh. Australian mining company Adelaide Resources announced “In the Eyre Peninsula of South Australia, we identified a very large resource of halloysiteit would be changing its name kaolin, which is a typical industrial mineral. to Andromeda Metals in Kaolin is one of the biggest industrial preparation of a dramatic shift minerals, with over 30 million tonnes a year in direction for the company, mined, produced and sold around the world. which had operated as a base and precious metals explorer for A unique resource the past 20 years. Following the “But at the Poochera project, we have name change, Andromeda has halloysite-kaolin, which is more of a transitioned from an exploration specialised and unique type of kaolin. It’s quite rare, and as a result has much higher company to a developer and producer of industrial minerals, value.” particularly halloysite-kaolin and high purity alumina (HPA). The project is being advanced in conjunction with Andromeda’s JV partner Minotaur
Exploration, with whom Marsh did some Industrial minerals can be defined as
consultancy work for around nine years
minerals mined and processed for the value
ago on the same project. Therefore, his
of their non-metallurgical properties, which
knowledge of the project and his vast
provides for their use across a wide range of
experience in the kaolin industry made Marsh
industrial and domestic applications.
the perfect candidate to lead Andromeda’s team at Poochera.
“An industrial mineral is used in large volume, typically at a lower value, but in
“The management of Andromeda went
everyday applications such as cars, houses,
through all the information and saw my
rubber, plastics, paint and general industrial
name on some reports I had written at the
uses,” explains Andromeda’s managing
time, and they approached me to head up
director James Marsh.
the project. I was chosen because I have 30 years of experience in kaolins, and I’ve been
Historically speaking, production of
involved from the mining side of the business
industrial minerals in Andromeda’s home
right through to marketing these products.”
market of Australia has been negligible compared to the European market.
The rest of the board at Andromeda contains
However, Australia has some of the world’s
a perfect blend of individuals specialising
biggest and highest purity resources of
in different areas of project management.
Resource Global Network
MINING | Andromeda Metals
“Company secretary Nick Harding is a very
Halloysite is a rare ‘tubular shaped’ derivative
experienced commercial man and excellent
of kaolin which can carry a commercial value
on the financial modelling side of things,”
of up to $3,000 per tonne for pure halloysite
Marsh reveals.
and up to $1,000 per tonne for a halloysitekaolin hybrid product, compared to $200 per
“Our chairman Rhoderick Grivas has no
tonne for pure kaolin.
direct kaolin experience but he’s taken projects from greenfields right through to
At the Poochera project, Marsh believes that
production in Australia, and Andy Shearer is
Andromeda has probably the world’s biggest
our corporate money man. He has been very
resource of this rare, high value resource.
useful when it comes to raising funds for the
But, the company’s initial attraction to the
company.
project was based on the potential for the halloysite-kaolin to be used as premium
“We have a very robust team, I am the kaolin specialist but we also have got financial
material feed for HPA production.
specialists, project management specialists
Emerging applications
and a fundraising specialist.”
HPA is a processed premium nonmetallurgical alumina product that is characterised by its purity level and used
Resource Global Network
across a range of emerging high-tech
proves that batteries can be made 3.5 times
markets, including artificial sapphire glass
more efficiently using nanocarbon from
(for mobile phone and television screens)
halloysite.
and certain battery storage components, as well as having aeronautical and medical
Further research into halloysite-kaolin
applications.
nanotubes has suggested that it could be used as a carrier of high value materials
“We are looking at HPA and a third round of
in fields such as medicine and agriculture.
tests have confirmed we have a premium for
According to Marsh, there are around 7,000
that material and are the only company in
research papers covering these blue-sky
that area that’s managed to get 99.99% purity
applications of halloysite-kaolin, which are
with only one stage of purification. That
being converted to patents at higher rates
is because the halloysite-kaolin is a much
than any other mineral.
higher purity naturally than standard kaolin.� Returning to the Poochera project, The company is also undertaking additional
Andromeda has revisited an unpublished
research into nanotubes and halloysite,
scoping study that was previously undertaken
particularly in the battery production space,
by Minotaur, making key modifications to the
and has already got test work back which
production model.
MINING | Andromeda Metals
“At the Poochera project, we have halloysite-kaolin, which is more of a specialised and unique type of kaolin. It’s quite rare, and as a result has much higher value” James Marsh, managing director Andromeda Metals
ResourceGlobal GlobalNetwork Network Resource “We plan to initially extract the material as a raw ore and export it overseas to China and possibly Japan, where there is a keen demand for the material at the moment,” says Marsh. “Then, as a second stage we are looking very closely at dry processing that material onsite.” The managing director believes that moving to a dry process model will increase the project’s margins by up to four times and reduce shipping costs by half, which will give the company a big financial boost. Plus, there is also the option of wet processing overseas using a toll producer. “The people we will sell the raw ore to have a very large capacity, so if they could take on our material, we would use them as a toll processor and then export the wet processed material round the rest of the world.” All three models resemble simple, low-capex options for Andromeda and none of them involve Minotaur’s initial plan to build a wet process plant on-site, which would’ve needed at least $70 million in capex. Andromeda has already completed dry processing trials in Western Australia and received good results from a commercial operation there. The company also hopes to replicate those trials in China in the coming months and is in discussions for dry processing trials in the US and Germany.
MINING | Andromeda Metals
Before dry processing trials were able to take
customers who will do their own full-scale
place, Andromeda had to take a 215 tonnes
commercial trials in their end application.
bulk sample from the Poochera project,
That will hopefully give us some legally
of which 40 tonnes were sent to the dry
binding offtake agreements with those
process plant in WA, and some 140 tonnes
customers.”
sent to China in anticipation of dry and wet processing trials there.
Offtake agreements A significant number of Andromeda’s
“That bulk sampling was crucial because we
potential customers are situated in the global
wanted to get the wet and dry processing
ceramics industry, particularly in the high
done on full commercial scale so we could
quality end of the market where halloysite-
prove up the process and get detailed
kaolin is used to produce porcelain or fine
costings for the scoping study.
detail bone china with very high whiteness.
“That process material from those
Halloysite-kaolin is highly valued in this
commercial trials will then go to end
industry and is currently in short supply
Resource Global Network “So far we’ve secured about 208,000 tonnes of indicated offtake agreements from customers,” reveals Marsh. “We will use at least that amount of fully processed material, not the raw ore. It’s probably a lot more now because demand is increasing as China has lost its domestic supply.” Andromeda is planning to finalise a scoping study for its Poochera project in the first half of 2019 which would then lead into a pre-feasibility study (PFS), although Marsh believes some of the scoping study figures have been done to PFS standard, which should accelerate the process. The company will also complete dry and wet processing in China before sending the products to its end customers, in order to hopefully sign further offtake agreements. Then, Andromeda will quickly move on to the after a large number of Chinese mines
mining lease application in the second half of
have been forced to close amid an ongoing
the year.
environmental crackdown on polluting mines by the Chinese government.
Securing environmental and permitting approval would cap off a busy 12-month
“Therefore, those companies from the
timeline for this company which has entered
ceramics sector are very keen to lock in long
the brave and exciting new world of industrial
term supply of this material. Their perception
minerals production.
of Australia is that of a high quality and consistent supplier of minerals.
ASX:ADN
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Published by Anderson Murray Media Ltd
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