Argent Minerals Limited (ASX: ARD) has announced plans to accelerate development at its flagship Kempfield Polymetallic Project in New South Wales. Argent Minerals is focused on creating shareholder wealth through the discovery, extraction, and marketing of precious and base metals. The company will initiate a diamond drilling program to determine the vertical depth of Lodes 100 and 200 within the Kempfield deposit.
The drilling program, anticipated to commence within two weeks pending NSW regulatory approvals, will consist of two diamond drill holes totalling approximately 700 metres. The primary objective is to delineate the depth of the mineralised zones and gather material for metallurgical testwork. This testwork will support the evaluation of both Heap Leach and Carbon-In-Leach (CIL)/Flotation processing routes, potentially paving the way for early production opportunities.
BHM Process Consultants Pty Ltd recently completed a metallurgical review of historical data, providing a preliminary economic assessment of various processing pathways. This assessment considered potential revenues, operating costs, and project profitability. The upcoming metallurgical drilling program aims to generate material for comprehensive testwork, which will underpin a Project Scoping Study. Auralia Metallurgy Pty Ltd in Western Australia will process the metallurgical samples.
Argent Minerals’ Managing Director, Mr Pedro Kastellorizos, stated that this program is a major milestone, underscoring the company’s commitment to de-risking the project through detailed technical and economic evaluation. The company is assessing the potential to generate early cash flow through a heap leachable product, which would support the development of future hard rock mining operations and a CIL plant to process the existing 46.6Mt of primary ore.
