Diatreme Resources Ltd (ASX:DRX), an emerging Australian producer of mineral and silica sands based in Brisbane, has announced the successful completion of metallurgical testwork for its wholly owned Cyclone Project. The results indicate substantial improvements in projected product yields, enhancing the development outlook for the zircon-rich heavy mineral sands project located in Western Australia’s Eucla Basin. Mineral Technologies finalised Mineral Separation Plant (MSP) testwork and flowsheet optimisation, resulting in significant gains in processing performance and product recovery.
Previous Wet Concentrator Plant (WCP) testwork on an 8-tonne bulk sample, representing the first three years of mining, achieved a 76.5% recovery of heavy minerals (HM) to heavy mineral concentrate (HMC). This represents a 21.6% improvement over previous testwork. As a result of the MSP program, Diatreme anticipates major production uplifts across key products. Forecast life of mine HMC production is up 58.3% to 3.2 million tonnes. Zircon production is expected to increase by 6.8% to 866,000 tonnes, while titanium concentrate production is projected to rise by 95.6% to 1.6 million tonnes.
The optimised flowsheet for the WCP resulted in a 58.3% increase in HMC production, including an increase in the recovery of waste minerals. The 2026 testwork accepted the lower 90.8% HM in the HMC to obtain higher recovery of valuable minerals, which could then be more selectively separated using the optimised MSP flowsheet. The company is also engaged in ongoing discussions with potential project partners for offtake agreements and investment opportunities.
Neil McIntyre, Diatreme’s CEO, stated that the final stage of testwork confirms that targeting higher mineral recoveries through the latest processing technologies is the right approach for Cyclone. He added that these enhanced yields increase the likelihood of progressing the project under favourable market conditions and add meaningful value to discussions with potential project partners.
