Argent Minerals speeds up development at Kempfield with diamond drilling and metallurgical testwork

• Argent Minerals plans major work program to de-risk Kempfield project
• The company is assessing the potential to generate early cashflow through a heap leach product
• The program will involve deep diamond drilling and metallurgical testwork, and will form the basis of a scoping study

Special report: A work program comprising diamond drilling and metallurgical testwork is set to take place at Argent Minerals’ Kempfield project in NSW to assess early production opportunities and lay the groundwork for full-scale development.

Argent Minerals (ASX:ARD) plans to generate material for metallurgical testwork with two deep diamond drillholes, totalling 700m, over Lode 100 and Lode 200.

Drilling will kick off within the next two weeks, following NSW regulatory approvals.

The testwork will evaluate multiple processing pathways, including heap leach and carbon-in-leach (CIL)/flotation options.

BHM Process Consultants recently completed a detailed metallurgical review and due diligence on the historical data, providing a preliminary economic assessment of various processing routes based on revenue potential, operating costs, and indicative project profitability.

Auralia Metallurgy in WA will undertake the processing of metallurgical samples.

The program is expected to produce a suite of technical outputs, including the formulation of process flow diagrams, definition of process design criteria, mass balance calculations, and models for both capital and operational expenditures.

The findings will form the basis of a scoping study, which will assess the potential for early-stage production and to define the development pathway for Kempfield.

It will also support the long-term case for a CIL plant to process the project’s 46.6Mt of primary ore.

As Argent advances this near-term development strategy, the company will continue to progress exploration activities across its broader Kempfield and regional portfolio.

“Transformational phase”

ARD managing director Pedro Kastellorizos said the work program represents a major milestone and underscores Argent’s commitment to de-risking the project.

“The company is currently assessing the potential to generate early cash flow through a heap leachable product, which would support the development of future hard rock mining operations and the construction of a CIL plant to process the existing 46.6Mt of primary ore,” Kastellorizos said.

“With a significant resource of 63.7Mt already defined at Kempfield, Argent is now entering a transformational phase as we de-risk the project through detailed technical and economic evaluation and progress toward development.

“This next stage of metallurgical testwork and targeted drilling is a critical step in a Scoping Study that will assess early cash flow opportunities via a heap leach operation, while also establishing the foundation for long-term hard rock mining and CIL processing.”

Prime location

Argent’s Kempfield project is about 41km south of Newmont’s (ASX:NEM) Cadia operations within the Lachlan Orogen, also known as the Lachlan Fold Belt.

More than 110Moz of gold discoveries have been made in the area to-date in and around the Central Lachlan and Cobar mineralised districts.

To the east of the Lachlan Fold Belt is the Macquarie Arc, which has been described as Australia’s foremost porphyry belt, home to powerhouse mines like Evolution Mining’s (ASX:EVN) Northparkes and Cowal mines, and Newmont Corporation’s (ASX:NEM) Cadia-Ridgeway (the second largest gold mine in Australia after its Boddington operation in WA’s South West).

The western reaches of the Lachlan Fold Belt host the Cobar Superbasin, where MAC Copper (ASX:MAC) acquired Australia’s highest-grade copper mine, the CSA mine, for US$1.1 billion from Glencore and is now selling it for a similar price to South Africa’s Harmony Gold.

This article was developed in collaboration with Argent Minerals, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.