Metallurgical test work on samples from G50 Corp’s (ASX: G50) Golconda project in the US has demonstrated the ability to concentrate a gallium-rich feedstock using proven, low-cost processing methods.
Exploratory testing by SGS Lakefield (Canada) aimed to assess if gallium, silver, and gold could be recovered and concentrated from unoxidised drill core and reverse circulation chips using crushing, screening and flotation.
The results showed that grades of up to 70% gallium and 97% silver could be concentrated in the fine fraction through screening and desliming.
Flotation could also produce a separate gold-silver concentrate grading up to 82%.
Domestic Gallium Supply
Testing demonstrated the potential for gallium to be recovered as a standalone concentrate, supporting the development of a strategic domestic gallium supply source from Golconda’s location in Arizona integrated within a larger primary precious and base metals project.
The identified processing routes align simple, scalable, and modular supply development for sale to buyers seeking to diversify and secure allied critical minerals supply chains.
Global supply of gallium – a strategically important critical mineral used in advanced semiconductors, defence systems, and clean-energy technologies – is currently dominated by by-products from aluminium processing, resulting in limited transparency and supply flexibility.
Earlier exploratory metallurgical test work assessed gallium deportment and amenability to concentration using conventional mineral processing techniques.
Today’s results demonstrate that gallium preferentially reports to fine particle size fractions and that screening, desliming, and flotation can concentrate the mineral into a reduced mass fraction.
Broad Zones of Mineralisation
G50 has previously carried out a series of exploration, mineralogical and metallurgical activities to assess the occurrence, continuity and processing characteristics of gallium at Golconda.
Drilling completed between 2023 and 2025 identified broad zones of gallium mineralisation associated with argillic to sericitic alteration and spatially-related gold, silver and base metals.
Representative drill core and reverse circulation composite samples analysed by electron probe microanalysis and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry established that the majority of gallium is hosted within the alteration mineral sericite (muscovite), with limited distribution in other mineral phases.
The company has prepared a conceptual processing flowsheet to illustrate potential concentration pathways, as well as guide further test work and evaluation.
