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.
Larvotto Resources’ Hillgrove geological personnel with ECORE Elemission’s technician and the ECORE scanner.
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.
‘The addition of this capability represents a major step forward in Larvotto’s adoption of advanced, automated mineralogy.’
Larvotto Resources managing director Ron Heeks
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.”
