Australian Vanadium gets diamond drill bit spinning at Gabanintha Vanadium Project
Date: Jan 22, 2019
The program will provide oxide, transitional and fresh core for pilot plant metallurgical test work.
Gabanintha project consists of 11 tenements covering around 260 square kilometres
Australian Vanadium Ltd (ASX:AVL) has begun metallurgical and resource diamond drilling at its Gabanintha Vanadium Project near Meekathara in Western Australia.
The program is designed to update the current mineral resource by drilling a number of holes to test at depth, trial new spectral and XRF scanning techniques and gather further geotechnical data.
Confirm circuit performance
Australian Vanadium director Vincent Algar said: “The 30 tonnes of material from this program are essential to confirm the performance of the circuit we have already defined in the PFS.
“As we complete the detailed design of the plant, it is essential we move from bench-scale tests to larger-scale tests using anticipated blends of ore that will be mined.
“Focusing on quality”
Algar also said: “A detailed pilot metallurgical program allows us to test and refine the circuit ensuring no surprises during actual mine production.
“The AVL team is focusing on quality as it advances through the work ahead.
“This quality will assist us in securing project funding partners and bringing Gabanintha into production.”
Innovative drilling procedures
Diamond holes will be drilled into the designed pit shell at the mining lease application to extract around 30 tonnes of oxide, transitional and fresh core samples for metallurgical work.
AVL will use innovative drilling procedures to reduce costs and drilling time as well as to maximise tonnage and information per hole during the program.
The program aims to intersect the mineralisation and provide key geo-metallurgical information on pit wall angles and free-dig boundaries in the waste rock.
