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Cavalier notches high gold recoveries in Crawford testing
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Cavalier Resources has had a positive start to its heap leach test work program on oxide samples from its Crawford gold project, with very high gold recoveries achieved.
Cavalier Resources (ASX:CVR) achieved a peak gold recovery of 93.2% from initial bottle roll tests on coarse oxide drill chips taken from its Crawford project in the mineral-rich and extremely busy Leonora region of Western Australia.
The encouraging early results have validated Cavalier’s decision to investigate onsite processing at Crawford and not wait for nearby producers with underutilised mills to come knocking for more ore to process, with an initial overall total average gold recovery of 85%.
“Crawford is an advanced gold project just 25km east of Leonora, with a lot of free dig resource available for processing at several nearby mills,” executive technical director Daniel Tuffin told Stockhead.
“While we’re always open to discussion, there’s a lot of noise and activity emanating from Leonora at the moment. It makes sense for us to continue these studies to see if we can exploit the resource independently via heap leaching should it prove viable.”
Testing focused on the mineralised oxide material currently contained within the resource of 3.8 million tonnes at 1 gram per tonne (g/t) for 117,800oz of contained gold.
The indicated oxide makes up about 61% of the current resource.
Tuffin said the results were highly encouraging and paved the way for the next phase of heap leach studies for the project.
“We are thrilled to announce an average gold recovery of 85.0% across a highly representative sample range,” he said.
“An impressive peak sample gold recovery rate of 93.2% was returned, further highlighting the early-stage potential to heap leach oxides at Crawford.
“Of particular significance is the observation that the mineralised oxide portion of the resource appears to be very fine and may therefore require minimal crushing.”
Tuffin said this characteristic suggested potential cost efficiencies and streamlined processing methods, which in addition to expected low mining costs could further positively impact Cavalier’s operational timelines and project economics.
Cavalier has now progressed to the next stage of study, column heap leach work, which is being overseen by heap leach experts Kappes, Cassiday & Associates Australia.
“These critical next steps in our metallurgical studies will provide valuable insight into the effectiveness of heap leaching gold at the Crawford gold project,” Tuffin explained
“Cavalier’s strategic direction for the area remains focused on establishing sustainable cash flows and fully unlocking the potential of our assets in Leonora.
“We are committed to prioritising initiatives that contribute to long-term financial success, utilising our resources and expertise strategically. Our continued goal is to create a robust, self-reliant, and self-sustaining presence in the Leonora area, capitalising on the opportunities available to us.”
Growing resources
Cavalier has also been hard at work on setting itself up for a bigger resource at the Crawford project having just last month completed targeted drone magnetics and a second drilling program.
Late last year Cavalier announced a 17% increase in the Crawford resource, which remains open along strike and at depth, providing the company with plenty of exploration upside potential.
The drilling program provided the metallurgical samples for the coarse crush leach test work.
Meanwhile, Cavalier is also expanding its prospective landholding in the Forrestania region of Western Australia, adding a further 200sq.km to its Ella’s Rock nickel-gold project with the recent grant of a new lease.
Cavalier has identified untested lithium, nickel, and gold potential at Ella’s Rock.
The company has also been granted the exploration lease for its Hidden Jewel gold project.
“Both projects add potential further early-stage lithium, gold and nickel targets to our portfolio to explore and make potential discoveries,” Tuffin said.
“At the same time, we continue to develop the Crawford gold project east of Leonora towards mining studies, a region which remains a hotbed of M&A activity.”
Cavalier will start exploration work at Ella’s Rock and Hidden Jewel in the second half of the year.
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.
