PRISM and TCM Research are excited to announce successful liberation of Iron and Vanadium from its Clear Hills polymetallic ore

PRISM is pleased to announce successful results by TCM-Research, a metallurgical process engineering partner, of the extraction of Iron and Vanadium from its Clear Hills polymetallic ore.

Initial test results demonstrate 99.1% Iron extraction (at 96% purity) and 96.% Vanadium extraction.

PRISM’s Clear Hills project has effectively been stalled since 2016 due primarily to an inability to successfully liberate metal from its unique “oolitic” ore deposit. Previous failed attempts had focused upon physical grinding with roasting and grain enlargement - all of which proved incapable of separating the iron and vanadium metals from the complex microscopic “goethite” mineralized structure.

TCM-Research’s innovative and patented reductive chlorination process therefore provides a long-awaited boost for this world-class resource.

A key advantage of TCM-Research’s process is its potential to generate green methods to produce a Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) substitute product for the steel industry. As highlighted by TCM-Research’s Dr Dmitri Terekhov, inventor of the process - “the adoption of hydrogen within the reduction process provides a tangible pathway to low emission steel manufacturing”. PRISM is excited that a combination of Alberta-produced hydrogen and PRISM’s iron metal powders could generate considerable economic benefit to the region and province.

With regards to its Vanadium resource, the enormous volume of iron demanded by a steel plant would result in over 15,000 tons of Vanadium being produced annually. Vanadium is a critical metal for flow batteries that can address the long duration energy storage (LDES) market. Safe, predictable and domestic supply at this scale (~15% of current global supply) would greatly assist in developing a cost-effective solution to the burgeoning Energy Stationary Storage (ESS) market.

There are other minerals and metals within the polymetallic ore, and we will provide updates as to the market potential for these additional “credit minerals”.

PRISM will now look to raise capital so as to validate the test findings and scale towards a field pilot plant.