Arunta Resources produces tungsten concentrate
THE DRILL SERGEANT: Arunta Resources (ASX: AJR) has received results from metallurgical test work recently carried out at the company’s 100 per cent-owned Hatches Creek tungsten project, located north-east of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory.
According to Arunta the results have shown the project possesses the ability to produce saleable tungsten concentrates from existing waste dumps from historical mining operations.
The company said the results highlight potential to process volumes of previously mined material available at surface at hatches Creek, providing an immediate pathway to progress commercial development of the project.
Arunta has received results from ten, 10 kilogram composite samples submitted for simple wet gravity test work, which were crushed and wet tabled with further concentration by magnetic separation and panning.
The results hail from six historical prospect areas – Pioneer, Black Diamond, Green Diamond, Treasure Group, Copper Show and Hit or Miss.
Four of these areas have returned encouraging grade and recovery results, with concentrate grades ranging from 20 per cent to 47 per cent tungsten from Green Diamond, Treasure Group, and Hit or Miss with recoveries ranging from 70 to 75 per cent.
“This ticks another very important box in our ongoing evaluation of the Hatches Creek project, with our preliminary metallurgical test work returning extremely positive results and providing a clear green light to move to the next stage,” Arunta Resources executive chairman Neil Biddle said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.
“The work completed so far confirms the potential to extract saleable tungsten concentrates from the extensive material remaining on site, with excellent recoveries achieved using low-cost gravity recovery methods.
“The next steps are to confirm the volume of material remaining at some of the better prospect areas and to commence detailed economic assessment of the project with a view to moving it towards commercial development as quickly as possible.”
Email: info@aruntaresources.com
Website: www.aruntaresources.com