Larvotto Resources said metallurgical test-work at its 100%-owned Hillgrove project in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, has delivered a 90% tungsten recovery rate, supporting the viability of producing a saleable tungsten concentrate as a byproduct alongside existing antimony and gold operations.
The test-work indicates that a simple and cost-effective processing circuit could be implemented to generate a marketable tungsten concentrate.
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Ongoing optimisation studies are in progress, utilising gravity separation, acid leaching and other refinement techniques to further enhance the process.
The initiatives are expected to further boost recovery rates and concentrate quality.
Test-work conducted so far suggests that Hillgrove could generate a third, high-value commodity, tungsten concentrate, with limited additional capital investment and low operating costs.
This development could improve the overall project economics and add another revenue stream to the site.
Larvotto Resources managing director Ron Heeks said: “Whilst tungsten has historically been mined with antimony and gold at Hillgrove as it is usually present in the same veins, it has never been extracted in the process plant.
“However, given this year’s record-high tungsten prices, as well as the Hillgrove processing plant already containing a dedicated tungsten gravity circuit that was never utilised, we decided to investigate the viability of tungsten recovery as a byproduct alongside gold and antimony.”
The latest mineral resource estimate (MRE) for Hillgrove stands at 8.77 million tonnes (mt) at an average grade of 0.05% tungsten trioxide (WO₃), containing a total of 4,774 tonnes (t) of WO₃.
Most of this resource is attributed to the Brackins Spur and Clarks Gully areas.
Larvotto has also identified additional tungsten potential within the wider Hillgrove field, highlighted by recent exploration at the Freehold prospect.
Significant high-grade intercepts include 0.6m grading 2.23% WO₃ from 76.7m in hole SLV004, and 0.5m at 3.43% WO₃ from 154.8m in SLV006.
Heeks added: “With recent drilling at Freehold confirming that all anomalous tungsten results are associated with antimony-gold mineralisation structures, we remain very enthusiastic about the potential of adding tungsten to our production schedule at Hillgrove.”
