National Metallurgical Laboratory (NML), Jamshedpur completed two pilot plant campaigns during the year and also carried out supportive experiments in the leaching and solvent extraction sections leading to the production of cobalt bearing cake. NML(J) has drawn up suitable scale up strategy for the grinding step for adequate recovery of cobalt.

Regional Research Laboratory (RRL), Bhubaneswar completed two pilot plant campaigns utilising the nodules collected during the current year and carried out following supportive experiments in reproducibility of leaching data and demanganisation of leach liquor with the help of demanganised reactor commissioned during the current year.

Hindustan Zinc Limited (HZL), Udaipur carried out additional supportive experiments for refinement of flowsheet at laboratory scale.