Critical Resources (ASX:CRR) has achieved a 150% increase in contained lithium oxide through a preliminary ore sorting program at its Mavis Lake Project in Canada.
The company says ultraviolet (UV) ore sorting achieved an increase in the lithium ore concentrate from 0.65% lithium oxide in the feed to 1.63% lithium oxide in the sorter product.
Critical Resources, which has a market capitalisation of $21.33 million, reports x-ray transmission waste sorting trials also achieved 98% waste rock rejection and 99% spodumene recovery to product.
The latest results show the potential of UV laser-based spodumene direct sorting to produce coarse spodumene ore concentrates from mined ore.
“The results show that incorporating ore sorting into the flow sheet for Mavis Lake has the potential to improve the consistency and quality of our spodumene concentrate product, while also offering potential operational benefits, including widening the feed envelope to include multiple sources of raw material, as well as possible reductions in the project footprint,” Managing Director Alex Cheeseman says.
Critical Resources has been working alongside the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) and STARK Resources to complete mineralogy and ore sorting investigations.
Each will help to assess the amenability of Mavis Lake’s ore to pre-concentration by ore sorting.
Pre-concentrating mined ore creates opportunities to reduce processing costs while increasing spodumene production. It will also improve product quality, reduce tailings, and lower the overall impact of hard rock lithium processing.
Cheeseman says the company now has the opportunity to design a process flow sheet that uses the operational advantages offered by the technologies.
As part of a comprehensive metallurgical test work program to support the development of Mavis Lake, the next phase of work will involve a sample suite that represents the project’s resource, carried out by SRC.
The company will undertake this work at a bulk scale of 1,600 kilograms, which will take 20 weeks to complete.
The Mavis Lake project covers 22,984 hectares and lies 14km east-northeast of Dryden in northwestern Ontario, Canada.
Critical Resources is an explorer and developer focused on delivering critical metals required for a decarbonised future. The company has a portfolio of lithium projects in Ontario, Canada.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Critical Resources
