- 01Dry separation: 66–68% Fe concentrates.
- 02Recovery: Fe 85–91%, magnetic 97–98%.
- 03Dry route may trim water use/capex; further work.
Accent Resources (ASX: ACS) has produced high-grade magnetite concentrates through independent dry magnetic separation test work at its 100%-owned Magnetite Range project in Western Australia, supporting consideration of a dry route in the project’s pre-feasibility study.
Bench-scale dual-drum tests on four representative samples from the Julia and Robb deposits delivered final concentrates grading 66.3% to 68.0% iron.
LONGI Magnet Co. tested the material across a range of crush and grind sizes, with its standard dual-drum configuration producing the reported concentrates after feed was ground to approximately 75 microns (µm).
The three high-grade samples achieved total iron recovery of 85.2% to 91.2% and magnetic iron recovery of 97.0% to 98.2%, while a deliberately selected lower-grade sample produced a 66.3% iron concentrate at lower yield and recovery.
Accent considers the results to provide technical support for assessing a dry route that could reduce process-water demand and reliance on conventional wet concentration and tailings storage, subject to further metallurgical, engineering, environmental, and economic work.
Dry Route Lifts Grade
Mass yields from the three high-grade samples ranged from 42.7% to 49.3%, while the lower-grade sample returned a 21.1% mass yield and 56.2% total iron recovery compared with 85.2% to 91.2% for the higher-grade material.
A separate single-stage wet magnetic cleaning test on the four dry concentrates produced grades of 69.7% to 70.3% iron at final total iron recoveries ranging from 59.2% to 88.6%.
Accent views that wet polishing step as a potential route to very high-grade concentrate suitable for direct reduced iron feed, while continuing to assess the fully dry flowsheet as its primary water-efficient option.
“The LONGI results are an encouraging technical milestone for Magnetite Range—the ability to produce 66% to 68% iron concentrates in the laboratory using a dry processing route gives the company a credible water efficient option to evaluate in the PFS,” chief executive officer David Sun said.
“Our next priority is to validate and optimise the flowsheet across representative material and at a scale suitable for engineering design.”
PFS Work to Test Economics
Magnetite Range has a JORC-compliant Mineral Resource of 523.3 million tonnes grading 31.3% iron, with the current processing studies forming part of the ongoing PFS.
Accent considers a dry route capable of potentially lowering capital costs and process-water demand while avoiding or reducing reliance on conventional wet concentration and tailings storage facilities, although those benefits remain subject to further assessment.
Next-stage work will include confirmation and optimisation testing on representative composites, evaluation of coarse dry rejection and fine dry cleaning stages, comparison of wet and dry processing alternatives and engineering studies to determine the preferred process route.
The bench-scale results remain preliminary rather than a final process design or production forecast, with recovery, energy use, equipment sizing, material handling, dust control, concentrate moisture, operating costs, and commercial application still requiring evaluation at an appropriate scale.
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