Black Canyon (ASX:BCA) has announced stage one metallurgical results from diamond drilling at the Wandanya Project in Western Australia.
Testwork was conducted on three manganese oxide, two manganese carbonate, and two iron oxide composites following earlier heavy liquid separation (HLS) work that produced a manganese concentrate exceeding 44% manganese with 80% recovery.
The latest crush and sizing analysis confirmed strong direct shipping ore (DSO) potential, with manganese grades preferentially reporting to coarser fractions (+10mm to 38mm) across the three manganese oxide composites.
Both the manganese and iron composites demonstrated very low deleterious elements such as aluminium, silica, and phosphorous.
Managing Director Brendan Cummins says that the testwork completed provides the company with confidence that the project can produce a ‘high-quality’ DSO manganese and iron product.
“The lower and medium grade manganese composite samples also delivered positive trends with high manganese grades reporting to the coarser fractions which bodes well for the Stage 2 HLS beneficiation testwork,” Cummins says.
“The key to a successful mine development and in particular bulk commodities is simplicity.
“The Wandanya discovery has continued to demonstrate from its inception a simple geological model showing widespread, continuous and shallow mineralisation which will lend itself to low strip and low-cost mining.
“Based on the sizing, grade, and recovery characteristics of the Wandanya manganese and iron composites, conceptually the process flowsheet will comprise a simple crush/screen for the DSO manganese and iron products with lower and mid-grade manganese mineralisation requiring beneficiation using a density-based technique such as DMS which should have a positive impact on the project operating costs.”
Black Canyon has now begun stage two HLS testwork for the low and medium grade manganese oxide composites, which will then be followed up with larger-scale dense media separation (DMS).
These tests aim to further improve grades and recoveries, providing valuable beneficiation data to support cost-effective processing and could potentially strengthen the case for Wandanya’s DSO potential.
Black Canyon reports that the company has $10.5 million cash on hand from Q4 2025 which will support ongoing exploration and project development.
The company expects to have significant news flow over the coming months.
Black Canyon is a manganese exploration and development company operating in the Pilbara Region of Western Australia.
Write to Amy Rotman at Mining.com.au
Images: Black Canyon
