Critical Minerals Group has announced that it has commenced a targeted drill program to provide ore samples for pilot scale testing at its Lindfield Vanadium Project.
Located in Northwest Queensland, 30km from the town of Julia Creek, the Lindfield Vanadium Project has a JORC Indicated and Inferred Resource estimate of 363mt at 0.43 per cent vanadium oxide (V₂O₅), and 4.8 per cent aluminium oxide (Al₂O₃), including an Indicated Resource of 254mt at 0.44 per cent V₂O₅ with shallow outcrops from the surface, and is hosted within the Toolebuc Formation.
The project is well served by infrastructure to support it, which is proximal to grid power, road and rail systems and water.
The planned drilling program consists of 20x4C (100mm) core holes and has been designed to source ore samples for a pilot scale testing program in a Vanadium Processing Pilot Plant (VPPP). The program has also included a successfully drilled 8C (200mm) core hole to generate additional volume of sample material and increase the drilling options for sample recovery of the orebody.
The encouraging results from recent test work have driven the testing program to the next stage of metallurgical testing in a pilot scale test plant. The pilot scale test work is being planned at present with an expectation that this material will be used in the VPPP in H1 2024 calendar year, once the assaying of results is complete.
Further metallurgical test work is planned to continue in the December Quarter, the results of which will assist in setting the parameters for the VPPP testing in H1 2024.
The drill program will also strengthen the geological understanding of the orebody at the Lindfield Vanadium Project, particularly in the region where the initial mining area is expected to start.
Critical Minerals Group Managing Director, Scott Winter, said that the organisation has been encouraged by how well it has been able to enrich and achieve great concentrate grades with a minimal amount of test work.
“This has given us the confidence to plan and implement a further drill program targeted at generating enough ore body samples to plan for a larger-scale pilot-scale processing test program,” Mr Winter said.
“The material will also give us the ability to further refine the existing flow sheet and define the parameters for the pilot scale.”
Featured image: Critical Minerals Group geologists examine a core from the drilling program. Image credit: Critical Minerals Group.
