Talking to the Taxman About Exploration

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COMMODITY CAPERS: It’s that time of year again when we ask the taxman to reimburse us for all the expenses we have incurred throughout the year as we carry out our respective businesses.

The junior exploration sector is no different to any other and is fortunate to have in place the Junior Minerals Exploration Incentive (JMEI).

A visit to the Australian Tax Office web page informs us that the JMEI encourages investment in small minerals exploration companies that carry out greenfields mineral exploration in Australia.

“Eligible exploration companies can generate tax credits by choosing to give up a portion of their losses from greenfields mineral exploration expenditure,” the ATO explains.

“These tax credits can then be distributed to investors who purchase newly issued shares in that eligible entity during a certain period.

“Australian resident shareholders issued with an exploration credit are entitled to a refundable tax offset or, if the shareholder is a corporate tax entity, additional franking credits.

“The exploration company’s carry forward losses will be reduced proportionately to reflect the amount of exploration credits issued to its shareholders.”

To participate, companies are required to lodge their interest by a due date, after which the ATO allocates each eligible entity an exploration credit allocation on a first come, first serve basis until the annual exploration credit cap for each income year is exhausted.

The JMEI came into being from the 2017–18 income year, with exploration credits capped over a four-year period as follows:

$15 million in the 2017–18 income year;
$25 million in the 2018–19 income year;
$30 million in the 2019–20 income year; and
$35 million in the 2020–21 income year.

In 2021, the Australian Government announced the availability of a further $100 million over four years to extend the JMEI to the end of June 2025.

The extension of the JMEI applies from the 2021–22 income year, with exploration credits capped over a further four-year period as follows:

$25 million in the 2021–22 income year;
$25 million in the 2022–23 income year;
$25 million in the 2023–24 income year; and
$25 million in the 2024–25 income year.

This year’s winners include:

Roadhouse Investment Afternoon June 2022

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COMMODITY CAPERS: The Resources Roadhouse welcomed five companies to present at our Northbridge Investment Afternoon yesterday to a room jam packed with punters.

 

Peak Minerals (ASX: PUA)

Peak Minerals is currently working up a suite of Western Australian copper exploration programs.

These include:

The Green Rocks project consisting of 234 square kilometres of contiguous landholding, incorporating the company’s existing Copper Hills and Lady Alma prospects;

The Earaheedy project that covers an area of 62sqkm sitting jus 28 kilometres southeast of Sandfire Resources (ASX: SFR) DeGrussa copper-gold mine and 18km southeast of the Monty copper-gold mine; and

The Kimberley projects: made up of the Kimberley south project of six individual tenements considered prospective for magmatic sulphides and sediment hosted copper mineralisation, and the Carson project, a large sediment hosted copper target looming over 250km strike in the Kimberleys.

PEAK MINERALS CEO JENNIFER NEILD

Most work of late has focused on Green Rocks where a helicopter borne time domain electromagnetics (HTDEM or Heli-EM) survey over the entire tenement package was completed.

Processing of data from Rixon, Lady Alma demonstrated a 2D inversion providing further confirmation of conductivity centralised around the southern portion of the Rixon intrusion.

Assays received from earlier diamond drilling undertaken at Lady Alma revealed anomalous copper and nickel was intersected.

 

Galileo Mining (ASX: GAL)

Galileo Mining has provided market watchers, and punters, with a considerable point of difference following the discovery of palladium-platinum-copper-nickel-sulphide at the company’s 100 per cent-owned Norseman project in Western Australia.

Assays from subsequent drilling at Callisto returned hefty zones of mineralisation while confirming initial results from the initial discovery drill hole.

Further assays demonstrated the presence of rhodium in addition to the palladium-platinum-gold-copper-nickel.

GALILEO MINING CHAIRMAN and MANAGING DIRECTOR BRAD UNDERWOOD

A new drilling campaign involving some 20 holes is currently underway at Callisto armed with the task of expanding on the early results with drilling designed at a 50 metre spacing across strike to be followed by drill lines along strike to the north.

The palladium, platinum, gold, copper, nickel, and rhodium mineralisation intersected to date has shown signs grades appear to be increasing towards the eastern target zone.

The company is hopeful the extensive prospective strike, combined with the thick and consistent mineralisation drilled to date, indicates the potential for a large mineralised system.

 

Aurimin (ASX: AUN)

Aurumin this week released an update on progress of RC and diamond drilling at its 100 per cent-owned Central Sandstone Gold Project.

Aurumin has taking a two two-pronged approach at Sandstone, the first part of which is development of the existing 500,000 ounce Two Mile Hill Resource and the second to get the most out of the Sandstone tenement package.

An auger drilling program is also exploring for new deposits just a couple of kilometres from existing infrastructure.

AURUMIN MANAGING DIRECTOR BRAD VALIUKAS

Elsewhere Aurumin has been keeping well busy at its 100 per cent-owned Mt Palmer project in WA, from which it recently announced results from an orientation reverse circulation (RC) program targeting lithium bearing pegmatites.

The drilling presented variations in the mineralogy of the pegmatites along with the anomalous assay results, which the company has interpreted to demonstrate the degree of fraction occurring within the pegmatite complex within the Vickers Find South prospect, validating its belief in the potential of the area to host lithium mineralisation.

“For a first pass, we are encouraged to have intersected multiple pegmatite units with an indication of fertility for lithium,” Aurumin managing director Brad Valiukas said.

“We have other promising target areas untested with drilling pending as well as targets at depth.”

 

Podium Minerals (ASX: POD)

Podium Minerals is making some serious progress at the company’s 100 per cent-owned Parks Reef PGM project in Western Australia to make fastidious investors aware of its existence.

The Parks Reef PGM project comprises a 15 kilometres strike of near surface PGM-gold-base metal mineralisation within its mining leases in the Mid-West Region of WA.

Podium is targeting high value metals with strong market fundamentals and growth prospects with a strategy to rapidly develop an alternative supply of PGMs to the world market.

PODIUM MINERALS MANAGING DIRECTOR and CEO SAMM RODDA

Having also identified the presence of rhodium, Podium’s recent Stage 9 drilling efforts revealed a geological package demonstrating high continuity of the PGM reef and high-grade zones from surface to earlier drilled deep holes that hit 500 metres below the surface.

The orebody remains open at depths below these holes.

The company believes the Stage 9 results and subsequent Stage 10 growth drilling targeting PGM ounces will support identification of preferred starter mine areas along the 15km strike of the Parks Reef Orebody.

 

Torque Minerals (ASX: TOR)

Torque Minerals’ is mainly focused on the company’s 100 per cent-owned Paris project sitting within the area known as the Boulder-Lefroy Fault Zone, a prolific gold-bearing structure and host to numerous mines that have produced many millions of ounces of gold.

The release of recent RC drilling results re-affirmed Torque’s belief of the existence of a very strong, broad zone of high-grade gold extending approximately 50m westbound from its first discovery that intersected a wide gold zone of 24 metres at 10.7 grams per tonne gold.

The latter drilling improved on this by returning results that included:

22PRC038
6m at 22g/t gold from 159m, 3m at 14g/t gold from 171m, within a larger zone of 27m at 8.2g/t gold from 156m.

TORQUE MINERALS EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN IAN FINCH

Torque has indicated its intention to commence follow up drilling program at Paris as soon as a suitable rig can be secured.

Drilling will entail:

Westbound RC follow up drilling into the Paris prospect high-grade gold zones with a view to rapidly increasing the gold inventory at that prospect;

Deeper RC drilling at Observation to investigate the depth potential of the previous gold discovery. The drilling will also aim to discover if other parallel or ‘offshoot’ gold zones also exist in the immediate area;

Westbound RC drilling at the Caruso prospect to explore mineralisation styles comparable to the Paris prospect; and

RC drilling at Paris South, Carreras, and Pavarotti to test already identified geochemistry anomalies.

 

 

 

Lithium Energy Provides Answers to Modern Conundrum

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COMMODITY CAPERS: Lithium Energy (ASX: LEL) is a dual-focused company with one eye looking overseas to develop its Solaroz lithium brine project in Argentina and the other fixed on its Burke graphite project in Queensland.

On its web page, Lithium Energy provides answers to two questions: Why lithium? and Why graphite?

The long-term prospects for lithium are very strong, Lithium Energy says, with demand being driven primarily by the expected growth for lithium batteries to be used in electric vehicles and other personal technological gadgetry.

It justifies developing its Solaroz project in Argentina by acknowledging lithium brine projects in that part of the world are, “recognised as being particularly attractive since they are amongst the lowest on the lithium carbonate cost curve, compared to hard rock lithium projects”.

Lithium Energy recently received Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) approval from the local Jujuy Provincial Government Mining Authority to commence exploration works at Solaroz.

“This is a positive endorsement by the Argentinian Government Authorities of the Solaroz lithium project and I look forward to mobilising to site and commencing work shortly on this highly prospective project,” Lithium Energy executive chairman William Johnson said.

“There is no better address to be exploring for lithium than the prolific Lithium Triangle where a number of world class lithium brine projects have been discovered.”

Solaroz is in the highly prospective Lithium Triangle of Argentina, directly adjacent to or principally surrounded by lithium majors Allkem Limited (formerly Orocobre) and Lithium Americas Corporation.

As far as graphite goes, it is currently enjoying its status as the dominant anode material used in lithium-ion batteries with more than ten times graphite by weight used in a lithium-ion battery than lithium.

The Burke graphite project contains one of the highest-grade graphite deposits globally and presents Lithium Energy with an opportunity to participate in the anticipated growth in demand for graphite and graphite related products.

The Burke graphite deposit has a JORC Inferred Mineral Resource of 6.3 million tonnes at 16 per cent total graphitic carbon (TGC) for 1 million tonnes of contained graphite, including a high-grade component of 2.3 million tonnes at 20.6 per cent TGC.

 

Email: info@lithiumenergy.com.au
Web: www.lithiumenergy.com.au
Directors: William Johnson, Farooq Khan, Peter Smith, Victor Poh Hong Ho

 

Centaurus Metals Grabs Jaguar by the Tail

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COMMODITY CAPERS: Centaurus Metals (ASX: CTM) received a boost for the company’s 100 per cent-owned Jaguar nickel sulphide project in northern Brazil in the shape of selection as a Strategic Minerals Project by the Brazilian Federal Government.

The Strategic Minerals Policy is part of the Investment Partnership Program – PPI (Programa de Parcerias de Investimento), a new Brazil governmental initiative designed to support companies while developing their projects across the country.

The PPI program supports projects deemed as strategic mineral projects for Brazil.

According to the Ministry of Mines and Energy, the Policy acknowledges a strategic priority dimension to the projects carefully selected by the Inter-ministerial Committee of Analysis of Strategic Minerals Projects – CTAPME, providing the titleholder with specialised governmental support for the development of their projects.

“The selection of the Jaguar Nickel Project as a strategic mineral project is further demonstration of the project’s global significance and its strategic importance to Brazil.” Centaurus Metals managing director Darren Gordon said.

“We applaud the Brazil government for introducing such a strong initiative for mineral projects considered to be of strategic importance to the country.”

Centaurus Metals soon followed up the announcement by reporting new results from ongoing resource growth and development drilling at Jaguar, the results from which are expected to underpin further resource growth ahead of the completion of a Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) and maiden Ore Reserve estimate due for completion by the end of calendar 2022.

Centaurus acquired the Jaguar project in the western portion of the Carajás Mineral Province of Brazil from Vale in April 2020, since which time the company has defined a Mineral Resource Estimate totalling 80.6 million tonnes at 0.91 per cent nickel for 730,700 tonnes of contained nickel.

The MRE is expected to underpin mine optimisation and production profile studies to be undertaken throughout 2022 that will determine the optimal mine capacity for the development of the project.

Any expansion of the processing plant capacity and/or production profile is likely to have a material positive impact on the project economics and delivery of nickel-in-sulphate, which currently stands at 20 million tonnes per annum for 13 years.

 

Email: office@centaurus.com.au
Web: www.centaurus.com.au
Directors: Didier Murcia, Darren Gordon, Bruno Scarpelli, Mark Hancock, Chris Banasik

 

Austral Resources Making Copper Mountain out of Anthill

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COMMODITY CAPERS: Austral Resources (ASX: AR1), although only recently listed in November 2021, boasts a strong portfolio of copper projects, including Anthill, Lady Annie, Cameron River, and Miranda, all at various stages of development.

Of these, the Anthill project is the most advanced, containing a JORC 2012 compliant Mineral Resource estimate of 13.8 million tonnes at 0.7 per cent copper.

The Anthill project area lies 45 kilometres from the Mt Kelly processing facility within the Lady Annie project, the tenements of which sit in the Western Fold Belt of the Mount Isa Inlier.

Austral Resources had a mining study completed by CSA Global in April 2021 resulting in a JORC 2012 compliant Ore Reserve of 5.1 million tonnes at 0.94 per cent copper containing 47,700 tonnes of copper.

The company is mining the ore from two pits with total recovered copper from the heap leach process anticipated to produce 40,400 tonnes over a 44 month period.

The company recently announced first ore haulage from the new Anthill mine to the Mt Kelly processing plant with the intention to begin Anthill ore processing by the end of April 2022.

“The first Anthill ore delivery to our processing facility represents a significant milestone achievement for the company,” Austral Resources chief executive officer Steve Tambanis said.

“Ore stacking onto the heap leach pad is expected to begin in late April and first plates of Anthill copper cathode will be produced in May 2022.

“From July onwards, copper cathode production is expected to exceed 1,000 tonnes per month.

“Rapidly increasing production and higher than forecast copper prices will combine to see healthy sales revenue from May.

Over 4 million tonnes of overburden has been moved since 6 January this year.

“When full scale haulage commences with 125 tonne road trains, each train contains sufficient copper to produce one tonne of recovered copper cathode or more thanUS$10,000 per train at current copper prices.

“The crushing circuit successfully processed its first rock as part of the refurbishment and commissioning process.”

With plant refurbishment finishing and full scale ore production on the horizon, Austral is on track to hit planned copper production of 10,000 tonnes per annum from mid-2022.

 

Email: admin@australres.com
Web: www.australres.com
Directors: Phillip Thomas, Dan Jauncey, Jeffrey Innes, Michael Hansel

Barton Gold Holdings Resuscitating SA Gold Projects

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COMMODITY CAPERS: Barton Gold Holdings (ASX: BGD) is aiming to breathe new life into the South Australian gold sector with development of its Tarcoola and Tunkilla gold projects.

The Tarcoola Project is located on the site of the brownfields open pit Perseverance Mine, which was operated during 2017 and 2018.

The Tarcoola Goldfield is an area familiar with gold production having been, during the early 1900s, South Australia’s major hard rock gold producer yielding some 77,000 ounces of gold.

Recent image processing and 3D modelling of detailed gravity survey data carried out by Barton in three key regional target areas of the project during September 2021 confirmed multiple prospective structural targets.

The recent gravity surveys identified a new, previously unrecognised large-scale anomaly called the Ealbara prospect, which was identified in the northern part of the Tarcoola project area on the Lake Labyrinth Shear Zone (LLSZ) and will be a priority target in Barton’s upcoming regional Tarcoola drilling program.

“Barton is rapidly building a new geological model for Tarcoola by combining traditional and innovative technologies,” Barton Gold Holdings managing director Alexander Scanlon said:

“These exciting results cross-validate our prior interpretations of multiple historical and new data sets, reinforcing the significant geological prospectivity for multiple regional discoveries at Tarcoola.

“Significant growth of Tarcoola’s mineralised footprint will be a high priority for Barton during 2022.”

The Tunkillia project is only 70 kilometres from Tarcoola and hosts a JORC Code 2012 compliant Mineral Resource Estimate at its cornerstone 223 deposit of 26.1 million tonnes at 1.15 grams per tonne gold for 965,000 ounces of gold.

Barton considers Tunkillia to hold much potential for large-scale extensions and discovery of new mineralisation.

The 223 deposit has put its hand up for this, already sitting at approx. 2.5km long and open to depth and along strike, with the host structure extending around 7km north and 7km south.

Both projects are within throwing distance of the company’s Central Gawler Mill, Barton’s main infrastructure hub with mill and processing plant capable of 650,000 tonnes mill feed annually, a 240 person mine village complete with recreation facilities and supporting infrastructure, labs, workshops, and private airstrip.

 

Email: contact@bartongold.com.au
Web: www.bartongold.com.au
Directors: Mark Connelly, Alexander Scanlon, Richard Crookes, Christian Paech, Neil Rose, Graham Arvidson

 

Coda Minerals Advancing Emmie System at Elizabeth Creek

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Coda Minerals (ASX: COD) recently underscored its understanding of the company’s Elizabeth Creek copper project in the Olympic Copper Province in South Australia.

Coda is the operator and majority owner of the Elizabeth Creek project, holding a 70 per cent interest alongside Torrens Mining, which holds a 30 per cent interest.

Coda and Torrens have struck a Bid Implementation Deed for the companies to merge via a recommended takeover offer, consolidating 100 per cent ownership of the Elizabeth Creek project.

Recent diamond drilling continued to demonstrate the substantial metal endowment of the broader Emmie System, which comprises both the shallower Emmie Bluff copper-cobalt deposit and the adjacent Emmie IOCG (copper-gold) at depth.

Two recent drill-holes combined with comprehensive re-logging of drill core by an IOCG expert, changing the company’s ideas about what the project may hold.

The first hole, EBD7, seemed to cut off a bornite zone on the far western edge of the anomaly while the second returned a copper-rich bornite dominated intercept from a location the company was not expecting to find one.

Combining results with detailed re-logging of previous holes, Coda interpreted outcomes to suggest multiple copper-bearing conduits could exists within the Emmie IOCG mineralised system.

“Simply put, we thought we were chasing a single area of mineralisation, but we now believe that there may be multiple zones of bornite,” Coda Minerals CEO Chris Stevens said.

“What we don’t yet know is how many there are, and whether or not some are much thicker than what we have found to date.”

The bornite encountered by the second of the holes mentioned provides new targets along with already established information leading the company’s suspicions Emmie IOCG displays hallmarks of an accumulation of copper and other valuable metals at least comparable in scale to the Emmie Bluff copper-cobalt deposit above it, and potentially much larger.

“Having both types of potentially economic copper mineralisation within the same overall mineralised system is unique, probably in the world,” Stevens said.

“With approximately 800,000 tonnes of contained copper equivalent already defined in Indicated Resources at Emmie Bluff, the IOCG beneath has also begun to demonstrate significant scale.”

Coda signalled its next move will be to focus on drill testing to evaluate and extend the new bornite zone encountered in EBD7 and re-evaluate historical drill hole SAE4, which encountered 16m at 0.64 per cent copper and 0.2g/t gold from 860m and 36m at 0.71 per cent copper and 0.2g/t gold from 884m.

Apart from this work, the company has taken very early steps to assess the economic potential of the Emmie IOCG deposit with the intention to integrate the Emmie IOCG deposit into the ongoing Elizabeth Creek scoping study.

“Based on what we already know, we have reached a point of confidence that Emmie IOCG represents a significant accumulation of copper and other valuable metals at least comparable in scale to the Emmie Bluff copper-cobalt deposit above it, and potentially much larger,” Stevens said.

“This opens up the very real option to evaluate the potential of a fully integrated development of these two deposits as part of a much larger mining operation.”

 

Email: info@codaminerals.com
Web: www.codaminerals.com
Directors: Keith Jones, Chris Stevens, Colin Moorhead, Robin Marshall, Paul Hallam

 

Breaker Resources Cashed Up and Ready to Fly at Lake Roe

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COMMODITY CAPERS: Breaker Resources (ASX: BRB) is focused on its expanding Lake Roe gold project in a greenfields district, 100 kilometres east of Western Australia’s gold mining hub of Kalgoorlie.

In December 2021, Breaker announced a 23 per cent increase in the Lake Roe Mineral Resource that increased global Resources for the project by 314,000 ounces to 1.68 million ounces.

This came on the heels of a 40 per cent increase in April 2021.

The company declared the robust mining potential is apparent at the Bombora deposit when typical standalone cut-off grades are applied:

Open Pit Resource
11.2 million tonnes at 1.9 grams per tonne gold for 688,000 ounces (0.8g/t cut-off above 100mRL); and

Underground Resource
4.4Mt at 3.6g/t gold for 501,000 ounces (1.8g/t cut-off below 100mRL).

 

 

 

 

Breaker is confident the new Resource provides a solid foundation for a long-term mining project with attractive margins, especially given current gold prices.

The high-grade growth potential immediately below the open pit Resource is wide open, from where several areas are opening with a grade and continuity suitable for underground mining.

“We are looking forward to start the transition from discovery into mine development studies over the ensuing year,” Breaker Resources managing director Tom Sanders said.

“Accordingly, we plan to ramp up our drilling to firm up the best areas for development, while expanding the Resource in other areas at the same time.”

Breaker Resources expects to start the transition from discovery into mine development studies throughout 2022.

In accordance with these aspirations, the company has signalled ramping up its drilling timetable to firm up the best areas for development, while expanding the Resource in other areas at the same time.

 

 

 

 

Breaker’s decision to divest 80 per cent of the Manna lithium rights at Lake Roe to ASX-listed Global Lithium Resources late last year, in a deal worth up to $33 million, to maintain its core focus on gold has turned out to be an astute move.

Global Lithium paid Breaker $13 million upfront comprising $6.5 million in cash and $6.5 million in Global Lithium shares to secure the deal.

Looking ahead, Global Lithium will pay Breaker a further $10 million on definition of a Mineral Resource containing more than 250,000 tonnes of contained Li2O.

Keep the crystal ball on, because Global Lithium will pay Breaker a further $10 million upon production of 100,000 tonnes of contained Li2O.

The new owners are already rapidly advancing the project with Global Lithium Resources recently announcing a maiden Inferred JORC Mineral Resource estimate for the Manna lithium project of 9.9 million tonnes at 1.14 per cent lithium oxide and 49ppm tantalum pentoxide.

Manna was discovered by Breaker Resources by way of initial drilling of the deposit in 2018.

 

Email: breaker@breakerresources.com.au
Web: www.breakerresources.com.au
Directors: Peter Cook, Tom Sanders, Mark Edwards, Mike Kitney, Linton Putland, Eric Vincent

 

Zinc Tailings Provide Profitable Processing

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COMMODITY CAPERS: New Century Resources (ASX: NCZ) has taken recycling and sustainability to new levels.

In its own words the company is, “a leading mining, tailings management and economic rehabilitation company focused on sustainably producing metal from resource assets while rehabilitating legacy impacts to the environment”.

New Century Resources achieved status as a top-15 global zinc producer via unconventional means.

The company operates Australia’s largest hydraulic mine at the Century Mine in Queensland, an operation that entails extracting, processing, and marketing zinc recovered from historical tailings.

Its success at doing so resulted in the ASX recently reclassifying the company from a ‘mining exploration entity’ to that of a ‘mining producing entity’ as defined under due to consistent revenue and cashflow from production over a period of more than 12 months.

The Century mine is located north-west of Mount Isa and began open-pit production in 1999.

During its initial 16 years of operation, Century was one of the largest zinc mines in the world, producing and processing an average of 475,000 tonnes per annum zinc in concentrate and 50,000tpa lead in concentrates.

Following the depletion of the original ore reserve, the mine was put on care and maintenance in 2016.

Enter, New Century Resources, which acquired the operation in 2017 from MMG, with the idea of re-starting operations through the reprocessing of tailings through the extensive infrastructure in place.

The operation is simple; tailings ore is hydraulically mined then pumped to the existing processing plant to remove remnant zinc prior to pumping back into the original open pit for final storage.

This economic rehabilitation strategy reduces the environmental footprint of site whilst providing a foundation for life extension through the future processing of substantial mineral deposits on site.

The 7 million tonnes per annum capacity hard rock processing plant has been refurbished to process up to 12 million tonnes per annum of tailings ore.

The plant also has latent capacity to process up to 1 million tonnes per annum of hard rock ore concurrently with tailings.

While production ticks over at the Century mine, New Century Resources is exploring the potential restart of copper production at the historical Mt Lyell mine in Tasmania using 100 per cent renewable energy.

New Century is also pursuing opportunities with industry peers to reprocess and rehabilitate contemporary and historical mineralised waste assets at operational and legacy mine sites where it hopes to instigate its expertise in economic rehabilitation.

 

 

Email: info@newcenturyresources.com
Web: www.newcenturyresources.com
Directors: Robert McDonald, Patrick Walta, Nick Cernotta, Peter Watson, Kerry Gleeson

 

Saturn Metals Derives Elite Recoveries at Apollo Hill

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COMMODITY CAPERS: Saturn Metals has announced excellent results from metallurgical test work on samples of mineralised material collected from the Apollo Hill deposit within the company’s 100 per cent-owned Apollo Hill gold project in the Western Australian Goldfields.

“The metallurgy of Apollo Hill is a great differentiator as it gives the opportunity for the company to consider shifting the scale of the deposit’s development,” Saturn Metals managing director Ian Bamborough said.

The company explained that the test work is a key part of its ongoing strategy to grow and progress the Apollo Hill Mineral Resource, which was last upgraded over one year ago to 944,000 ounces.

The results highlighted Apollo Hill’s amenability to simple low-cost mineral processing methods, including heap leach, which can in turn drive lower stripping ratios and efficient mining processes.

An Apollo Hill composite sample derived from high quality diamond core, gave an excellent overall recovery of 81 per cent from intermittent bottle roll tests, preceded with gravity separation, using high pressure grinding roll (HPGR) crushing to 8mm P100 (targeted commercial fresh rock crush size).

These results complement, confirm, and potentially improve on column leach test work previously published by the company where recovery was 73 per cent at 8mm crush on an Apollo Hill typical drill core composite.

A strong average recovery of 77 per cent was obtained for Apollo Hill’s major material types, across the deposit’s lower grade range, using conventional stage crushing and High Pressure Grinding Rolls (HPGR) sample subsets.

This augurs well when considering the reported global average grade of heap leach operations is 0.7g/t and on average 65 per cent of gold is recovered.

Saturn believes the results support its view that Apollo Hill has the potential to join this group.

It also indicates gold recovery may be viable from material which would normally be considered marginal and highlights potential for the use of lower cut off grades to improve economics.

“These excellent results from a comprehensive Apollo Hill sample set, provide a decisive weight of evidence for the application of simple cost-effective mineral processing scenarios at lower cut off grades,” Bamborough said.

“We plan to utilise these new results and the results of our more mill-based metallurgy program as reported in October 2021, to examine the potential for economies of scale in our current resource upgrade process and subsequent studies.”

 

Email: info@saturnmetals.com.au
Web: www.saturnmetals.com.au
Directors: Ian Bamborough, Brett Lambert, Andrew Venn, Rob Tyson, Adrian Goldstone