Pilbara gold company Artemis Resources (ASX:ARV) is paving a path to production following positive initial metallurgical results from its Carlow Castle gold project.
The project has continued to deliver spectacular gold and cobalt results, and the latest testwork on two high-grade samples has shown the ore can be concentrated with low cost gravity operations.
Total gold recovery rates to date sit at 75 and 64 percent respectively from two samples.
The company has been inspecting gravity and leaching processes to produce gold, while using conventional floatation methods to separate copper and cobalt elements.
This first pass metallurgical programme indicates Carlow Castle is amenable to low cost gravity gold recovery and base metal flotation processes.
The high grade copper concentrates (with gold credits) produced are encouraging and cobalt flotation is now progressing,” Artemis CEO Wayne Bramwell said.
Ammtec Laboratories in Western Australia have been conducting the processing work, using two 100kg samples.
The full results of the study are tipped to be released by December this year.
Positive testwork will prove a vital step for Artemis, with the company building the Pilbara’s only independently operated processing plant at Radio Hill.
The gold circuit represents stage one for the development of Radio Hill, with the development of multi-commodity operations occurring in the second phase of development.
Artemis expects that the results of the processing testwork will provide ample ground for the company to then begin offtake discussions with a number of potential partners.
The company has also said that it is targeting the commencement of a scoping study in Q1 2019.
