Galileo Mining Ltd has finalised preliminary laboratory scale metallurgical test work on existing sonic drill core samples from the Norseman Cobalt Project, which is located in the goldfields region in Western Australia.
According to Metallurgist and Galileo Technical Director Noel O’Brien, these initial results are highly significant in terms of better metal recoveries from the orebody and indicate the possibility to reduce capital and operating costs. Conventional and commercially available technology has also been used to complete the beneficiation and Mr O’Brien believes this improves the overall risk profile of the Norseman Cobalt Project.
Galileo’s Managing Director, Brad Underwood said the early stage metallurgical results suggested an improved business case for the project.
“This early success in our first attempt to concentrate the cobalt ore implies that the Norseman Cobalt Project could be amenable to large-scale beneficiation prior to extraction of the contained metals. Such an outcome could lead to considerably improved economics for a mining operation and open up new opportunities for the development of Galileo’s cobalt resources.”
“We are now in a strong position to undertake the more detailed metallurgical test work required for the completion of our scoping study,” Mr Underwood shared.
The samples in question were from the Dragon platinum/palladium prospect which falls within the bounds of the Mission Sill cobalt resource. The objective behind the preliminary laboratory scale metallurgical test work was to examine the potential to beneficiate the ore and to concentrate cobalt and other contained metals. The results from the testing saw an increase in cobalt grade from 0.1 per cent to 0.28 per cent was achieved with 75 per cent of the overall contained cobalt collected into a coarse concentrate (representing just 28 per cent of the total mass). Most of the potentially high acid-consuming minerals, such as iron and alumina, were also found to be rejected to the finer fraction.
Galileo has announced that ongoing test work on the Dragon samples includes flotation with a view to recovering platinum, palladium and copper metals. In addition to this, the bulk of the metallurgical test work will focus on cobalt, and leading to the scoping study, will be conducted on a recently drilled diamond core.