Positive results from Coolgardie Rare Metals Venture

THE DRILL SERGEANT: The Coolgardie Rare Metals Venture (CRMV) between Cobre Montana (ASX: CXB) and Focus Minerals (ASX: FML) is investigating the occurrence of lithium and rare metals within certain mining tenements controlled by Focus in the Coolgardie region of Western Australia.

The CRMV has conducted a field examination of known pegmatite occurrences within the area, which it claims has identified a variety of lithium minerals, principally within the vicinity of Lepidolite Hill, approximately 15 kilometres south of Coolgardie, where approximately 400,000 tonnes of material has been excavated and most of the lepidolite, a lithium mica, has been deposited in waste dumps adjacent to the pit.

Cobre Montana has been investigating processing technology capable of providing advantages over conventional lithium extraction technology.

In its efforts to identify this superior processing technology, Cobre has entered into a technology sharing agreement with Perth-based Strategic Metallurgy.

This alliance will work to optimise Strategic’s proprietary technology for use on Cobre Montana projects.

Cobre believes the technology will be applicable to processing lepidolite, a material rarely considered to be a lithium ore mineral.

A mineralised sample from outcrop near Lepidolite Hill was prepared for froth flotation to ensure concentrates of an appropriate grade could be produced as a feed source for further down-stream processing using Strategic’s processing technology.

The sample used for the initial scoping produced the following results:

 

Source: Company announcement

 

“The ability to separate lepidolite from other constituents of the pegmatite, by conventional froth flotation, has been demonstrated to be very effective, however the process requires optimisation and in particular, the sensitivity to grind size,” Cobre Montana said in its announcement to the ASX.

“Optimisation parameters will be examined in future tests.

“A further bulk sample has been taken from dumps at Lepidolite Hill and this is being prepared for floatation testing.

“The lepidolite concentrate produced from the Lepidolite Hill dumps will be used for further testing to recover lithium, and other metals.”

Email: info@cobremontana.com.au

Website: www.cobremontana.com.au