Larvotto Resources has bought and taken delivery of Canadian-based Elemission’s game-changing ECORE automated core scanning system. The new technology will make the company’s NSW Hillgrove antimony-gold project the only operating mine site in Australia equipped with on-site laser ablation and atomic emission spectroscopy capability.
The ECORE system delivers near real-time, high-resolution multi-element geochemistry and quantitative mineralogy.
The bench-top unit, which is now installed at Hillgrove - 30 kilometres east of the NSW city of Armidale - scans fresh drill core within hours of it reaching surface. The improved turnaround represents a quantum leap from the weeks or months traditionally required for off-site lab assays and other QEMSCAN work.
For Larvotto’s exploration crew, the new scanning technology translates into instant visualisation of antimony, gold and gangue distribution, alteration halos and textural relationships, dramatically accelerating geological modelling and follow-up drill targeting.
Key exploration wins include streamlined core logging, smarter and focussed assay interval selection and the creation of a fully searchable digital mineralogical library for the entire Hillgrove ore system.
But the technology’s reach extends well beyond discovery. Hillgrove’s metallurgists are already using ECORE data on grain size, mineral associations and liberation characteristics to fine-tune grind circuits, optimise flotation and recovery parameters and to troubleshoot process plant performance.
The same scans will also inform upcoming pre-feasibility test work and even evaluate re-processing potential in the project’s historical tailings and waste dumps.
Larvotto Resources managing director Ron Heeks said: “Integrating ECORE into our workflows provides Larvotto with a powerful new capability to understand the Hillgrove deposit from both geological and metallurgical perspectives. This cutting-edge technology enables us to generate high-quality mineralogical information in hours rather than weeks, significantly improving how we do business from exploration drilling to processing.”
The acquisition underlines the company’s commitment to running a genuinely 21st-century operation at Hillgrove – a project that is already on track to produce around 7 per cent of global antimony supply once the refurbished plant reaches nameplate capacity in 2026.
In an industry that often seems stuck in the 1980’s, Larvotto has just strapped a rocket to both exploration and processing at Hillgrove.
Real-time mineralogical evaluation on site means almost immediate results following sample acquisition, higher recoveries and importantly, smarter dollars spent – exactly the edge a new high-margin antimony-gold producer needs in today’s buoyant market for both metals.
The old-timers who first probed the Hillgrove area’s mineral riches almost 170 years ago wouldn’t recognise the place.
Today, the future just arrived.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
By Doug Bright
