In coming years, global lithium production is expected to increase as the result of widespread electric vehicle adoption. To meet the expected increase in demand, lithium must be sourced from both brine and hard-rock deposits. Heavy liquid separation (HLS) and dense media separation (DMS) tests were conducted on the pegmatites from Hidden Lake, NWT, Canada to demonstrate the potential role of this technology in the concentration of spodumene (LiAlSi₂O₆) from hard-rock sources. A continuously operated DMS circuit test, conducted on +840 µm material, produced a concentrate grading 6.11% Li₂O with ~50% lithium recovery. The circuit rejected 50% of the original mass to tailings, with only 8% lithium losses. Sensitivity analysis showed that minor changes (+/−0.05) in the DMS-specific gravity cut point resulted in significant changes to the mass rejected and to the concentrate grade produced; this may limit the feasibility and operability of the downstream grinding and flotation circuits. The results demonstrate the potential for DMS in the concentration of spodumene from the Hidden Lake pegmatites, and by extension, the potential for DMS in the concentration of spodumene from other hard-rock occurrences.

Tsikourasite, Mo₃Ni₂P_1+x (x < 0.25), is a new phosphide discovered in a mantle-hosted podiform chromitite collected in the abandoned mine of Agios Stefanos (Othrys ophiolite), Central Greece. It forms tiny grains (from a few μm up to about 80 μm) and occurs as isolated grains or associated with other known minerals such as nickelphosphide and awaruite, and with undetermined minerals such as Ni-allabogdanite or Ni-barringerite and a V-sulphide. Tsikourasite is brittle and has a metallic luster. In plane-polarized light, tsikourasite is white yellow and it shows no bireflectance, anisotropism or pleochroism. Internal reflections were not observed, Reflectance values of tsikourasite in air (R in %) are: 55.7 at 470 nm, 56.8 at 546 nm, 57.5 at 589 nm and 58.5 at 650 nm. Five spot analyses of tsikourasite give the average composition: P 7.97, S 0.67, V 14.13, Fe 14.37, Co 7.59, Ni 23.9, and Mo 44.16, total 99.60 wt.%, corresponding to the empirical formula (Mo_1.778V_1.071Fe_0.082Co_0.069)_Σ3.000(Ni_1.572Co_0.428)_Σ2.000(P_0.981S_0.079)_Σ1.060, on the basis of Σ(Mo +V + Fe + Co + Ni) = 5 apfu and taking into account the structural results. The simplified formula is Mo₃Ni₂P_1+x (x < 0.25). The density, which was calculated based on the empirical formula and single-crystal data, is 9.182 g/cm³. The mineral is cubic, space group F-43m, with a = 10.8215(5) Å and Z = 16. Although tsikourasite is similar in composition to those of monipite (MoNiP), polekhovskyite (MoNiP₂), and the synthetic compound MoNiP₂, all these phases are hexagonal and not cubic like tsikourasite. It exhibits the same structure as the cubic Mo₃Ni₂P_1.18 compound [space group F-43m, a = 10.846(2) Å] synthesized at 1350 °C. The mineral and its name have been approved by the Commission of New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification of the International Mineralogical Association (No. 2018-156). The mineral honors Professor Basilios Tsikouras of the Universiti Brunei Darussalam.

Platinum-group minerals were concentrated using superpanning from two composite chromitite samples, which were collected from two old mines within the Othrys ophiolite. This method allows for the recovery of a broad spectrum of these rare and fine-grained minerals, and helps to better identify them and interpret their origin. Major differences between the east and west Othrys ophiolites were determined, probably as a result of their different origin and evolution. Primary Os-, Ir-, and Ru-bearing platinum-group minerals (IPGM)-alloys and the Rh-, Pt- and Pd-bearing platinum-group minerals (PPGM) occur only in the east Othrys chromitite, indicating an evolution from initially low f_S2 conditions at shallower mantle levels with the subsequent implication of a S-saturated ascending fluid. In contrast, the absence of primary IPGM-alloys in west Othrys chromitite indicates that S saturation had been attained. The presence of erlichmanite suggests that sulphur fugacity eventually increased significantly in both suites. Substantial fluctuations of a fluid phase, likely related to serpentinising fluids, modified the platinum-group minerals (PGM) assemblage of west Othrys, and resulted in a large diversity of secondary PGM minerals. The limited number of secondary species developed in the east Othrys indicate that secondary processes were also different in the two suites.