Tag Archives: Nullagine

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

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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.”

Modular Steinert KSS sorting plant heading to Novo’s Pilbara deposits

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Novo Resources has advised that Phase 2 mechanical sorting trials of its Pilbara deposit bulk samples will commence from early December 2021 following the dispatch of a Steinert KSS 100F LIXT fine mechanical sorting unit, due to be commissioned at its operation in Western Australia over the next few weeks.

The sorter will be installed adjacent to the company’s Golden Eagle processing facility in Nullagine.

Fifty samples from four different deposits across the Pilbara, ranging in size from 800 kg to approximately five tonnes, will be crushed and screened into three size fractions prior to testing through the sorter. The bulk samples will be processed by the sorter to produce a concentrate for gold assay.

Once this second phase of testing is complete, expected around the June quarter of 2022, the next phase of the test work will involve relocating the sorter to the company’ Comet Well project in Karratha, Western Australia, and commencing proposed large-scale bulk sample sorting test work of 20,000 t, leading to potential commercialisation of mechanical sorting for Pilbara conglomerates, Novo said.

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, according to Novo. 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 trial of the sorter within the Golden Eagle processing facility area is a 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.

“Mechanical sensor-based sorting utilises X-ray technology, 3D colour laser and metal induction to identify gold-bearing material,” Novo said. “A high-pressure air jet ‘shoots’ these gold-bearing particles into a collection system to produce a concentrate for further downstream processing.”

Rob Humphryson, CEO and a Director of Novo, said: “Mobilising the mechanical sorter for Phase 2 field trials represents an important step in progressing this innovative technology. We are looking forward to observing sorter performance from field samples collected at Comet Well, Purdy’s Reward, Talga Talga and Egina ahead of larger-scale field trials at Comet Well and Purdy’s Reward scheduled for Q2 (June quarter) 2022.”

GR Engineering to refurbish Nullagine gold mill in Western Australia

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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.”

Magnetic inversion data helps identify more gold at Nullagine

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Millennium Minerals’ new exploration targeting methodology at the Nullagine gold project in Western Australia has come up trumps, with a new greenfield target identified 1.8 km southwest of its flagship Golden Eagle deposit.

The new target, which has already been the subject of reconnaissance drilling, was identified through a combination of 3D magnetic inversion, structural analysis and soil geochemistry.

Drilling has returned what Millennium calls a “significant” 12 m intercept comprising a broad zone of highly anomalous mineralisation with a similar alteration to Golden Eagle – where the company has defined 334,400 ounces of resources grading 1.4 g/t Au – including a narrow zone of high-grade gold.

The assay that so far best characterises this is a 12 m interval averaging 0.87 g/t Au from 184 m depth, which includes 1 m at 3.13 g/t Au from 191 m.

The 3D magnetic inversion models have also outlined an alteration zone measuring 400 m in strike Millennium is planning to follow up with drilling, it said.

This whole approach is something very new for Millennium, CEO Peter Cash said.

“While most of our exploration at Nullagine has historically been directed towards outcropping geochemical targets – which have been very successful in delivering ongoing increases in resources and reserves – we believe that an integrated targeting methodology based on a mineralised system approach has the potential to unlock major new discoveries,” he said.

“Three dimensional magnetic inversion data has never previously been used to identify gold mineralisation at Nullagine, and we are really excited to now have confirmation that this technology can successfully define new gold targets in the Mosquito Creek Basin.”

He said the use of 3D data represents an “enormously important technical breakthrough” for the area and Millennium.

Millennium produced 70,371 ounces of gold at Nullagine in the year to the end of June.