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(Sharecast News) - Empire Metals reported progress in developing a processing flowsheet for its Pitfield Project in Western Australia on Thursday, with test work confirming the viability of extracting high-grade titanium dioxide from the mineralised weathered cap.
The AIM-traded firm said the results indicated that a combination of gravity and flotation techniques provided an effective method for producing an anatase-rich concentrate, which could be further upgraded through acid leaching.
It said the weathered cap, extending over 50 metres from the surface, had been found to be highly friable and amenable to low-cost scrubbing and desliming.
Titanium mineral separation was successfully achieved using froth flotation, with a subsequent acid-bake water leach process yielding a 91% titanium extraction rate.
Empire said it would now focus on optimising flotation conditions to improve recovery and testing cleaner-stage flotation to enhance concentrate grades.
The company said it saw the developments as a key step toward product development and commercialisation of the Pitfield titanium resource.
"I am extremely pleased to provide this update on the success of the ongoing metallurgical testwork and flowsheet development, which continues to gather great momentum," said managing director Shaun Bunn.
"The successful application of froth flotation to recover high-grade titanium dioxide minerals from the fines fraction of the weathered ore is an important step in designing an efficient and robust process flowsheet."
Bunn noted that the titanium dioxide minerals contained within the flotation concentrates "responded well" to the subsequent leaching stage, with titanium recoveries peaking at 91%.
"Looking ahead, the metallurgical testwork will now focus on testing various titanium product development options and will assess the purification and refining stages to determine the steps required to achieve a high-purity, high value titanium dioxide product."
At 1017 GMT, shares in Empire Metals were up 5.27% at 8.57p.
Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.
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