The Metals Company Inc. (Nasdaq: TMC) has announced that it has successfully produced a high-grade nickel-copper-cobalt alloy and manganese silicate during a smelting campaign, run as part of the 18-month feasibility programme designed to process a 2,000t sample of deep-seafloor polymetallic nodules at its partner PAMCO’s Rotary Kiln Electric-Arc Furnace (RKEF) operating facility in Hachinohe, Japan.
TMC’s head of onshore development, Dr Jeffrey Donald, commented, “Successfully converting nodules into high-grade nickel-copper-cobalt alloy and manganese silicate at PAMCO’s existing facility is a major milestone, eliminating the need to build new infrastructure from scratch. PAMCO has proven they are ready to receive and process nodules as soon as TMC delivers them.”
Following the commercial-scale production of calcine in September 2024, PAMCO engineers fed calcine material into the company’s 3,000kVA DC electric-arc furnace where it was smelted into high-grade nickel-copper-cobalt alloy and manganese silicate products.
Over a 14-day continuous campaign, PAMCO successfully demonstrated the process, collected and analyzed data, confirmed process control set points, monitored furnace integrity, and gained operational experience.
TMC has stated that this demonstration supports anticipated definitive processing agreements as the company prepares to submit the world’s first exploitation application for commercial production.
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