Cavalier Resources isn’t wasting any time waiting for the underutilised mills in the Leonora region to come knocking for more ore, with the fast-moving explorer instead kicking off studies into potential onsite processing at its Crawford gold project.  

Cavalier Resources (ASX:CVR) is gearing up to begin further studies into heap leach processing at its Crawford gold project after high level internal studies indicated the potential for the oxide portion of the resource to be extracted and processed using the low-cost industry standard processing method.

The company has appointed heap leach experts Kappes, Cassiday & Associates Australia to handle the studies and has also signed a heads of agreement with Blue Cap Mining, which will assist with the studies and potentially conduct the development and mining work for any test pits.

Cavalier decided to take the initiative to assess the potential for owner-operator processing because “recent M&A instability in the region has cast some doubt on the company securing viable toll milling options for the Crawford gold project in the near term”, executive technical director Daniel Tuffin explained.

“Given this situation, Cavalier has embarked on investigating the potential to mine and mill Crawford as an owner-operated heap leach operation.”

Crawford sits near several mills in the Leonora region, including Dacian Gold’s (ASX:DCN) underutilised Mt Morgan plant.

Dacian previously put out a call to fellow nearby explorers about a potential toll treatment collaboration to boost the supply to Mount Morgans.

This was around the time Genesis Minerals (ASX:GMD) and Kin Mining (ASX:KIN) both went into battle for control of Dacian.

While Genesis managed to gain a majority stake in Dacian, the suitor was unsuccessful in getting the takeover across the line thanks to Kin acquiring a blocking stake.

With that stalemate, the pursuit of more gold for the Mt Morgans plant was put on the backburner as Genesis set its sights on St Barbara (ASX:SBM).

Genesis successfully sealed that deal via a merger which gave the company control of the Gwalia operation.

Meanwhile, Cavalier has been busy shoring up its own future processing options, focusing on contract mining and self-processing the oxide portion of the resource via heap leaching.

“An early-stage phase one metallurgical test program is now underway, which includes new bottle roll testing specific to heap leach methodology,” Tuffin said.

Crawford, which forms part of the broader Leonora gold project, hosts a JORC-compliant resource of 3.8 million tonnes at 1 gram per tonne (g/t) for 117,800oz of contained gold following an upgrade in December 2022.

This story was developed in collaboration with Cavalier Resources, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

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

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