Carnavale Resources Ltd (ASX:CAV) has confirmed gold recoveries of up to 99% from detailed metallurgical testwork at the Kookynie Gold Project in Western Australia, strengthening the case for third-party processing and the project’s proposed low-capital development strategy.
The Definitive Feasibility Study-level program returned recoveries of 98% from oxide and transitional material and 99% from fresh rock at a 106-micron grind size.
Gravity gold recoveries ranged from 71% in oxide material to more than 81% in fresh rock, while cyanide consumption remained low across all three mineralogical domains.
The company made substantial progress toward the development of its high-grade Kookynie Gold Project during the June 2026 quarter, completing most technical work for a bankable feasibility study (BFS) and confirming a 120,000-ounce mineral resource with increased confidence in the proposed open-pit inventory.
Carnavale expects to publish the completed BFS during the September 2026 quarter.
Ore suited to conventional processing
Carnavale's testwork showed Kookynie ore could be treated at a typical Goldfields carbon-in-leach processing plant without issues relating to preg-robbing, refractory mineralisation or deleterious elements.
The program used process water sourced from an operating Goldfields plant to provide a realistic assessment of gold recoveries and reagent consumption under anticipated toll-treatment conditions.
Cyanide consumption ranged from 0.35 kilograms per tonne in fresh rock to 0.44 kilograms per tonne in oxide material.
Comminution testing also found the transitional and fresh samples had characteristics broadly consistent with other Goldfields gold deposits.
“The outcomes of the detailed metallurgical work have been outstanding, with gold recoveries above 98% using process water sourced from a Goldfields CIL plant,” managing director Humphrey Hale said.
“These results confirm the earlier work by Carnavale and support the economics for the project.”
Long section through the Green Bay Ming underground mine highlighting the location of select drill results.
Supports toll-treatment development model
Kookynie is about 60 kilometres south of Leonora and within trucking distance of several operating gold processing plants in Western Australia’s Eastern Goldfields.
Carnavale is pursuing a development model based on transporting ore to a third-party facility, potentially through a toll-treatment or ore purchase agreement.
The project contains a mineral resource of 855,000 tonnes grading 4.4 g/t gold for approximately 120,000 ounces, with development proposed through an initial open pit followed by underground mining.
Fresh material accounts for about 85% of the resource ounces and delivered the strongest metallurgical response, including 99% recovery at the finer grind size and gravity recovery exceeding 81%.
Next steps
Carnavale will complete the assessment of the physical and geochemical properties of the testwork tailings, with initial results indicating no expected negative impact on a conventional processing facility’s tailings storage infrastructure.
The company will also use the metallurgical results to support negotiations with regional processing operators for a toll-treatment or ore purchase agreement.