Resolution Miners confirmed it has produced antimony trioxide product from large samples of stibnite at its Antimony Ridge historical open pits, part of the Horse Heaven antimony-tungsten-gold-silver project in Valley County, Idaho.
The milestone was met using the conventional pyrometallurgical process of volatilisation, producing an intermediate product, with 99.38 wt% antimony trioxide (Sb2O3wt%) content. Further refining pyrometallurgical test work is now started, with final product results will be released in the coming weeks.
Pyrometallurgy would be the base-case, conventional technology for processing antimony, with initial tests conducted by KPM in Ontario to produce antimony trioxide. A number of third parties have been approached regarding this processing option. Test work is advancing on antimony-bearing stibnite veins that have returned exceptionally high-grade Antimony (Sb) consistently above 30% up to 50% Sb in recent results, mined historically during World War I &II and the Korean War, from Antimony Ridge.
The company said its test work is also advancing on options to concentrate the antimony ore, tungsten and gold at IMO labs in Perth, Australia. Test work on Antimony Ridge samples using hydrometallurgical processing is also underway at ANSTO in Australia, and results will be released once available.
“Resolution’s goal is to develop a hydrometallurgy processing hub for antimony, as stibnite, in Idaho, due to the lack of modern processing options in the USA for antimony,” officials said.
Earlier this month, Horse Heaven was selected for the U.S. FAST-41 Transparency Coverage by the Permitting Council, expected to accelerate permitting timelines with an application for 250 drill holes and large-scale bulk sampling.
“With the recent U.S. Government Permitting Council provided via FAST-41 coverage to accelerate permits, Resolution is in parallel developing further local processing plans to enable antimony and tungsten supply for U.S. demand,” said Ari Zaetz, RML managing director.
“Our unique combination of critical minerals assets makes us well placed to deliver.”
Source: resolutionminerals.com