Black Iron confirms commercial-quality iron ore pellets from Shymanivske

Toronto-based Black Iron (TSE:BKI) reported on Tuesday that initial test results confirmed commercial quality ore at its Shymanivske iron project in the Ukraine.
The independent tests, which were performed by Mekhanobrchermet Laboratories (MCM), validate that pellets made from Shymanivske iron ore met or exceeded the necessary chemical and physical characteristics of commercial-grade iron ore pellets.
After pelletization, the Iron ore pellets contained 65 percent iron, five percent Silica and 0.001 percent sulphur.
The process of pelletizing combines mixing of the raw material, forming the pellet and a thermal treatment baking the soft raw pellet to hard spheres. The raw material is rolled into a ball then fired in a kiln to sinter the particles into a hard sphere.
"These initial results are encouraging. The pellets produced satisfy all of the main physical characteristics for commercial pellets including high iron grade and contaminant levels well below acceptable cut offs," Black Iron’s chief operating officer George Mover said.
"The data generated by MCM is expected to serve as a springboard for BBA and Hatch to use in their further development of the pellet plant flowsheet and cost estimates, which is one of two project development options being evaluated for our upcoming PEA/Scoping Study due in the fourth quarter of this year."
If Black Iron decides to commercialize iron ore pellets from Shymanivske, additional process design and analysis will be needed and if the pellitizing option is decided upon, pilot scale pellet production may be done to confirm the commercial viability of iron ore pellets.
The company said it plans to review initial pelletizing data in conjunction with the ongoing preliminary economic assessment and scoping study, which is slated for the fourth-quarter.
Black Iron, which is advancing its wholly-owned Shymanivske project in Krivoy Rog, Ukraine, has a measured and indicated resource of 345 million tonnes grading 32% iron and 469 million tonnes of inferred resources grading 31% iron.
The project is surrounded by five other operating mines, including ArcelorMittal's (NYSE:MT) iron ore complex