Tivan Ltd. has completed a mini-pilot plant program for the Speewah fluorite project in Western Australia, producing premium acid-grade fluorspar in an Australian first.
The mini-pilot program was conducted at ALS Metallurgy in Balcatta and produced 195 kilograms of acid-grade fluorspar concentrate.
The trial delivered a calculated average fluorite grade of 98.6 per cent calcium fluoride, significantly exceeding the global commercial benchmark specification of 97.0 per cent calcium fluoride.
The results confirm that the Speewah project can deliver the ultra-high-purity product required for global hydrofluoric acid production, a key input for clean energy tech, electronics, and chemical manufacturing.
The successful trial marks a commercial victory for Tivan and its joint venture partners, Japanese industrial heavyweight Sumitomo Corporation and the Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security (JOGMEC).
Tivan and Sumitomo are now preparing to ship the high-grade samples to up to 14 major end-users globally by early June, with a particular focus on industrial customers in Japan.
This follows a previous non-binding term sheet giving the joint venture the right to acquire up to 100 per cent of the project’s life-of-mine product, with an 80 per cent take-or-pay commitment.
The pilot utilised a 3.3-tonne blended composite of mineralised oxide material recovered from Speewah outcroppings, featuring a head grade of 13.3 per cent calcium fluoride to mimic real-world life-of-mine conditions.
“The outstanding results of our mini-pilot program are an Australian first in acidgrade fluorspar, that highlight the world-class attributes of Speewah as a mineral resource,” said Tivan Executive Chairman Grant Wilson.
“The results are a landmark technical achievement, as well as a fundamentally important commercial driver, empowering our strategic partner, Sumitomo Corporation, to progress the marketing campaign for the project with confidence.”
Data from the mini-pilot will now feed into the project’s definitive feasibility study (DFS) and pave the way for a much larger, 24-hour continuous full pilot program scheduled for later this year to finalise processing flowsheet designs.
