Tag Archives: Novo Resources Corp

Steinert mechanical ore sorter starts up at Novo’s Nullagine gold project

21st December 2021Comminution of minerals, Mineral exploration, Mining services, Precious metals, Sustainable miningChrysos, Chrysos PhotonAssay, Comet Well, Egina, Golden Eagle, mechanical sorting, Novo Resources Corp, Nullagine, ore sorting, Purdy's Reward, Rob Humphryson, Steinert, Talga Talga, Western AustraliaDaniel Gleeson

Novo Resources Corp has advised that Phase 2 mechanical sorter trials using a Steinert KSS 100F LIXT fine mechanical sorting unit have commenced at the Nullagine gold project, in Western Australia.

Over recent weeks, the sorter infrastructure has been mobilised, constructed and commissioned adjacent to the company’s Golden Eagle processing plant at Nullagine. Fifty samples from the company’s Comet Well, Purdy’s Reward, Egina, and Talga Talga projects ranging in size from 800 kg to around 5 t have been delivered to the site for crushing and screening ahead of Phase 2 sorter test work.

The test work program in late 2021 and early 2022 is designed to achieve multiple objectives:

Construct and commission the sorter and associated infrastructure (Phase 1 – complete);
Tune the sorter to the various geological regimes and size fractions and train Novo operators in its use;
Process samples from multiple Novo projects around the Pilbara to field test mass pull to concentrate;
Establish assay protocols for sorter concentrate ‘accepts’ and waste ‘rejects’. Smaller concentrate mass will be processed by Chrysos PhotonAssay technology at Intertek’s laboratory in Perth, Western Australia. The Acacia reactor and electrowinning apparatus in the gold room at the Nullagine is being commissioned to accept larger masses of material from accepts and reject samples. This will be particularly important as the test work program moves to Phase 3 at the company’s Comet Well project in 2022 to test bulk samples (up to 20,000 t of potentially mineralised material from the Comet Well and Purdy’s Reward projects).

The sorter infrastructure, designed and constructed by OPS Screening and Crushing Equipment, is a fully modular and containerised turnkey plant deployable to any of Novo’s tenements in the future for test work and potential large bulk sampling and processing, the company said. The sorter includes feed and product transfer conveyors, allowing the sorter to produce gold-bearing concentrates in a single pass for further upgrading or downstream processing.

“This Phase 2 trial of the sorter within the Golden Eagle processing facility area is the culmination of several years of test work conducted by Novo to determine the amenability of mechanical sorting to its 13,250 sq.km of tenements across Western Australia,” the company said. “Mechanical sensor-based sorting utilises X-ray technology, 3D colour laser and metal induction to identify gold-bearing material. A high-pressure air jet ‘shoots’ these gold bearing particles into a collection system to produce a concentrate for further downstream processing.”

Next steps at the project include:

Phase 2 completion prior to May 2022 – complete processing and assaying of all outstanding coarse, mid and fines samples from the company’s Comet Well, Purdy’s Reward, Egina and Talga Talga projects and establish operating protocols for processing larger mass; and
Phase 3 commencing May 2022 (subject to approval from the Western Australian Department of Water and Environmental Regulation) – relocate the sorter and infrastructure to the Comet Well project for bulk test work.

Rob Humphryson, CEO and a Director of Novo, said: “Novo is delighted to see the sorter in operation at the Nullagine gold project. This represents the culmination of considerable planning involving a dedicated consortium of mechanical, electrical, geological and processing experts aiming to maximise the likelihood of success of an innovative application for sorting in the gold industry.

“Results from Phase 3 bulk sampling program set to commence in 2022 at the Comet Well and Purdy’s Reward projects, together with the results of the Phase 2 trials at the Nullagine gold project this year, are expected to provide sufficient geological and operating certainty to enable Novo to progress towards commercial operations at Novo’s nuggety gold deposits.”

New Found Gold to use Chrysos PhotonAssay method for Queensway drill core

9th November 2021Environmental, Mineral exploration, Mining services, Precious metalsassaying, Chrysos, Melissa Render, MSALABS, New Found Gold, Novo Resources Corp, PhotonAssay, Queensway ProjectDaniel Gleeson

New Found Gold says it is proceeding immediately with assaying of drill whole-core samples from its Queensway Project, in Newfoundland, Canada, using the Chrysos PhotonAssay™ method at Intertek’s facilities in Perth, Western Australia.

Novo Resources Corp, a significant shareholder of New Found, currently uses Intertek’s Chrysos PhotonAssay facilities in Perth for production and exploration samples from its Western Australia gold mining and exploration projects and is facilitating priority access for New Found to the Intertek facilities under Novo’s arrangement with Intertek.

The company is planning to send the first shipment of Queensway drill core from Gander this coming week, including intervals from recent drilling that were previously designated for conventional assay on a “rush basis”, the company said. Assay results from these samples are anticipated to be received and reported in the coming weeks.

Intertek’s assay facilities in Perth are used by a broad spectrum of gold mining and exploration companies and it operates two Chrysos PhotonAssay instruments at its Perth laboratory with a third to be installed shortly.

New Found is advancing towards an agreement with MSALABS for 20,000 assays per month at a new facility MSALABS anticipate commissioning shortly in Val d’Or, Quebec, and is also working with MSALABS towards an agreement for the installation of a Chrysos PhotonAssay unit in Gander, in Newfoundland, in 2022.

The use of the Intertek facilities in Perth will allow the company to immediately proceed with leveraging the Chrysos PhotonAssay for the assay of drill core currently being produced at Queensway. This assay work would transition to the MSALABS facility in Val d’Or, Quebec, once capacity there is available to the company.

The Chrysos PhotonAssay method is non-destructive and New Found’s QA/QC program will include fire assay/metallic screening of sample material post photon assay for comparison of the results.

Melissa Render, VP Exploration of New Found, said: “With the current large backlog of samples and resulting slow turnaround times for conventional assaying in North America, even with the additional transport time required to ship samples to Perth, we believe that proceeding with Chrysos PhotonAssay analysis at these facilities in Perth will significantly shorten our turnaround time on assays. This will provide faster receipt of critical information to our exploration team and will allow more timely disclosure of drill results to the market.

“Recognising the nuggety nature of gold mineralisation at Queensway, the use of non-destructive, Chrysos PhotonAssay method on whole-core samples will contribute significantly to optimising the accuracy of our assay results. The Chrysos PhotonAssay method is rapidly gaining industry wide acceptance. Barrick, in partnership with MSALABS, recently installed a Chrysos PhotonAssay unit at its Bulyanhulu Mine in Tanzania, and Kirkland Lake Gold recently installed a unit at its Fosterville Mine in Victoria State, Australia. We are very excited to be moving ahead and implementing the Chrysos PhotonAssay assay process for our Queensway Project and we look forward to reporting our first assay results from recent drilling in the next several weeks.”

GR Engineering to refurbish Nullagine gold mill in Western Australia

16th October 2020Comminution of minerals, Equipment maintenance, Mine operation news, Mineral processing, Mineral project development, Mining services, Precious metalsGeoff Jones, gold, GR Engineering, Millennium Minerals, Novo Resources Corp, Nullagine, Western AustraliaDaniel Gleeson

GR Engineering Services has been awarded a contract for the engineering, procurement and construction works associated with the Nullagine Mill Refurbishment project, in Western Australia.

The contract, awarded by Millennium Minerals Ltd, a subsidiary of Novo Resources Corp, is worth A$8.3 million ($5.9 million) and will be undertaken on a reimbursable cost basis, GR Engineering said.

Millennium’s mine and processing plant were shut down in December 2019 and Novo is planning to restart the processing plant in early 2021. The scope of works includes the refurbishment and upgrade of the gravity circuit and associated facilities to enable operations to recommence.

Novo said: “GR Engineering Services are synonymous with gold plant construction and refurbishment throughout Australia and were selected based upon their experience and capacity to undertake these works safely, efficiently and cost effectively.”

GR Engineering’s Managing Director, Geoff Jones, said: “GR Engineering is pleased to have been awarded the contract for the Nullagine Mill Refurbishment project. We are looking forward to working with the Novo management team to successfully and safely deliver this project.”