EQR advances tungsten recovery

EQ Resources (ASX: EQR) has achieved 86% tungsten recovery from ore and waste stockpiles from its Wolfram Camp project in far north Queensland.

The testing program was a collaboration between EQR, TOMRA Sorting Solutions and The University of Queensland.

Previously abandoned in 2018, EQR is revitalising the asset to leverage its major deposit of critical minerals including tungsten and bismuth.

EQR tested two bulk samples to evaluate the grade and distribution across size fractions for tungsten and molybdenum to assess the effectiveness of XRT sorting in recovering minerals from surface stockpiles.

The ore stockpile named the WBS Parrot, returned a .09% tungsten head grade and 269ppm of molybdenum.

The results confirmed that the XRT sorting can efficiently de-bulk tungsten rich ore, with an 86% of the total tungsten being recovered from 5-10% of the original feed mass.

EQR executive chairman Oliver Kleinhempel says the preliminary results highlight the technical potential to unlock value from historic stockpiles at Wolfram Camp using modern sorting technology.

“The strong tungsten upgrade from the Parrot stockpile and meaningful recoveries from the waste composite reinforce the viability of this low-impact approach to resource recovery and offers exciting upside as we refine our processing strategy,” he said.

“We look forward to completing the technical review and progressing to the next phase of evaluation.”

EQR is now evaluating the potential to leverage existing infrastructure to establish a regional tungsten hub aiming to maximise operation synergies, reduce capital intensity and support regional employment.

Further assay certification and interpretation of results are underway with the next steps including further bulk sample testing with the XRT ore sorter at Mount Carbine to assess in-situ sortability potential, with results to be integrated into production and stockpile evaluation.