White Rock Minerals Ltd (ASX:WRM, OTCQX:WRMCF) has welcomed a $500,000 grant secured by JV-partner Thomson Resources for the Mt Carrington Project, under the NSW Government’s Critical Minerals and High-Tech Metals Activation Fund (CMAF).
This grant is a co-contribution by NSW Government for the further test-work identified in Thomson’s Central Processing Pathway Study.
The CMAF funding provides timely support to enable thorough testing and refinement of the central processing pathway prior to embarking on a pre-feasibility study (PFS).
What’s more, the grant recognises the importance of the New England Fold Belt hub and spoke strategy (NEFBHS) to deliver critical minerals and high-tech metals to New South Wales.
The Mt Carrington Gold-Silver-Base Metals Project in northern NSW is subject to an earn-in and JV agreement between White Rock and Thomson.
Hub and spoke strategy
Thomson executive chairman David Williams said: “The awarding of the Stream 1 CMAF Grant to Thomson is a fantastic outcome for our strategy and hard-working team and demonstrates the growing recognition of the importance and tangibility of the NEFBHS.
“The support from the NSW Government with this grant coupled with their overall support for Thomson progressing the NEFBHS, gives Thomson great confidence in progressing this strategy through the feasibility stages.
“The CMAF is a clear demonstration by the NSW Government of its understanding and commitment to ensuring Australia has a dependable and accelerated supply of critical minerals and high-tech metals.
“NSW’s list of critical minerals and high-tech metals includes the following which have already been identified on the NEFBHS projects – silver, copper, tin, zinc and indium. As we look more closely, we may well find other minerals on the list.”
Critical minerals and high-tech metals activation fund
The NSW Government allocated $130 million to activate the critical minerals and high-tech metals sector, which is now known as the CMAF, which is designed to activate the sector and diversify mining in regional NSW.
There are two streams of funding, the first stream provides grants ranging from $300,000 to $500,000 to support industry and research institutions to undertake the necessary studies to progress their projects and reduce the risk for future investment.
The first stream focuses on funding studies that are needed to activate the sector, such as research and development, feasibility studies and environmental studies.
Work program
This study proposed for the grant aims to address these issues with a range of test-work that is defined in a detailed scope.
In broad terms the study will involve acquiring sufficient representative metallurgical samples from the various deposits at the Mt Carrington, Webbs Silver and Conrad project sites in order to complete the following test-work:
- Albion ProcessTM test work;
- Ore beneficiation test work;
- Flotation test work; and
- Cyanide leaching test work
Importantly the study will result in a concept-level process package for the NEFBHS project that will feed into the PFS work.