American Tungsten & Antimony (ASX:AT4) has commenced a restart campaign at the Del Sol Hydromet Refinery in Nevada ahead of schedule.
The campaign processes material from the White Spar Antimony Mine in Arizona through the Del Sol hydrometallurgical circuit to produce antimony flake. The restart uses the facility’s existing permitted feed envelope, allowing execution while minimising capex.
Material from White Spar’s small-scale extraction zone and upgraded material from a gravity beneficiation circuit will process through the leach and electrowinning circuit. This will then produce antimony flake for qualification discussions with prospective offtakers, strategic partners, and US government agencies.
Remelting and fire refining testwork using recovered flake is planned to follow.
CEO Casper Adson says commencing the restart campaign at the Del Sol refinery is a critical milestone for the company.
“AT4 has fast-tracked the restart to demonstrate the capability of the Del Sol circuit using US-sourced material,” Adson says.
“The restart campaign aims to deliver antimony flake and Regulus II antimony ingot, produced in Nevada from mineral sourced in Arizona, to demonstrate a US mine-to-metal supply chain solution to defence primes and US government agencies.”
Executive Chairman Timothy Morrison says the ability to demonstrate physical production from US material differentiates AT4 from development-stage projects.
“US policy increasingly requires domestic and allied supply of critical materials used in defence supply chains, and antimony sits at the centre of these requirements,” Morrison says.
“Our objective is to build on that position in antimony, and in time, tungsten through the proposed ammonium paratungstate expansion in Del Sol.”
The company’s wholly owned US subsidiary was selected by the US Department of Energy to enter award negotiations under the Mines & Metals Capacity Expansion program for a potential award of up to US$18 million ($25.25 million) for the ASCEND-Sb Project.
Additionally, tungsten testwork is progressing at Del Sol on material from Dutch Mountain, Tennessee Mountain, and third-party sources as part of the ammonium paratungstate (APT) expansion study. Metso has also been commissioned to complete a Scoping Study for an APT circuit.
The campaign is undertaken in cooperation with Nexus Metals under arrangements permitting AT4 to progress work prior to completing the acquisition announced in July, which remains subject to shareholder approval on 21 September.
American Tungsten & Antimony is focused on the exploration and development of antimony and tungsten projects in the US.
Write to Paula Fabe at Mining.com.au
Images: American Tungsten & Antimony
