Artemis Resources Ltd (ASX:ARV) has received the first of three key approvals for the installation of a new gold circuit at its Radio Hill processing plant in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
Safety approval has been granted for the new circuit which will process 70-100 tonnes per hour.
The Gekko Gold Circuit will be installed into the 0.5 million tonnes a year Radio Hill concentrator at Artemis’ wholly-owned project 30 kilometres south of the mining hub of Karratha.
Approval was obtained from the state’s Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DMIRS).
Approvals in waiting
Artemis also needs to obtain an environmental approval for its mining approval from DMIRS and a licence amendment from the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation.
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Artemis chief executive officer Wayne Bramwell said: “The installation of this new gold circuit (will provide) Artemis the ability to bulk-sample the gold targets that it has within its regional land holdings.
“Artemis is ready to install the new gold circuit, subject only to receiving the final Western Australian Government approvals to do so.”
Bramwell said the company was continuing with development work, with a view to conducting bulk-sampling and campaign-processing of shallow gold targets before starting gold operations later this year.
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The $3 million upgrade will allow the company to crush 100 tonnes an hour run-of-mine into the fine ore bin then feed it into the Gekko-supplied recovery circuit.
The modular circuit will be able to take conglomerate-style gold nuggets and fine free gold as small as 20 microns.
Engineering contractor Process 26 is on-site waiting to start installation and commissioning once all three approvals are received.