Australian Vanadium advances Gabanintha pilot scale studies ahead of schedule
Date: Feb 21, 2019
Ongoing drilling at Australian Vanadium’s (ASX: AVL) flagship Gabanintha project in Western Australia is progressing ahead of schedule, with the company collecting multiple diamond core samples for pilot scale studies.
As part of the program, numerous samples of all material types within Gabanintha’s proposed open pit have been extracted for detailed pilot test work.
The samples will be evaluated using the processing flow diagram to ensure the proposed processing method is scaled up correctly for actual mine production.
“The substantial thickness of the deposit has allowed the company to advance collection of material for the pilot study by carefully planned and executed down-dip drilling,” Australian Vanadium managing director Vincent Algar explained.
“The time and cost savings gained by using this method match our accelerated time-line to 2021 production.”
“Drilling is progressing exceptionally well, recovering high quality magnetite and proceeding ahead of schedule,” Mr Algar added.
To-date, Australian Vanadium has delivered 9 tonnes of drill core for analysis, with more expected throughout the remainder of February and March.
Once the drilling campaign has been completed, Australian Vanadium will have unearthed 30t of oxide, transitional and fresh core samples, which will feed into a “robust” pilot program using a crushing, milling and beneficiation circuit.
