EV Resources has produced its first antimony ingots from mineralisation sourced at its flagship Los Lirios antimony project in Oaxaca, Mexico.
EV Resources used material from the Lirios 1 and Lirios 2 East open pits to conduct preliminary direct-to-smelter testing.
The tests were conducted at an independent third-party metallurgical facility in Guadalajara, experimenting with varying flux compositions and melting temperatures to test the conversion of raw mineralisation into metal.
Several ingots were produced from this process, demonstrating a vertically integrated pathway to market for Los Lirios material.
The process confirms that high-grade stibnite and oxide mineralisation mined at Los Lirios is amenable to simple smelting techniques. The results validate the suitability of Los Lirios material for end-product production through low-cost smelting.
EV Resources CEO Mike Brown said the first ingot production is the first step in the company’s pathway to becoming a near-term primary North American antimony producer.
“This isn’t just a lab result; it is tangible proof that Los Lirios can deliver a finished metal product using straightforward metallurgical processes,” he said.
“By validating material from both Lirios 1 and Lirios 2, we have confirmed the potential simplified pathway for two different styles of material observed across the project area.
“As global antimony supply remains under significant pressure, proving a fast-track, mine-to-metal pathway in Mexico positions us as a key future supplier to the North American market.”
EV Resources plans to conduct more detailed metallurgical testing on both the feedstock and the final ingot products to enable further refinement of this potential process route.
Data from ingot production will be used to further develop potential processing characterisation of Lirios mineralisation.
