The Governor Broome Project is Astute 100% owned Heavy Mineral Sands (HMS) Project located in the minerals sand rich coastal plains of Western Australia and the Company has to date defined an Indicated JORC Resource of 78 Mt @ 4.5% Heavy Minerals (HM) and Inferred JORC Resource of 48 Mt 4.0% HM. In 2021, the Company acquired the remaining 80% of the Jack Track Deposit from Iluka Resources Limited, increasing its interest to 100% of this high-grade part of the project.
With combined JORC resources of some 127 Mt at a grade of 4.3%, the Governor Broome Project demonstrates the potential to generate economic cash flow with conventional mining techniques to produce a saleable heavy mineral concentrate.
Astute carried out metallurgical testwork including a 2.6t bulk sample tested for processing and production in 2021, successfully producing a heavy mineral concentrate (HMC) from conventional wet separation methods, and dry processing of the HMC to produce ilmenite and zircon products.
The Company plans to conduct infill drilling in H1 2023, produce an updated Mineral Resource Estimate for the project and conduct a Scoping study in H2. This work sets the scene for the company to progress to a Pre-Feasibility Study.
