Glencore Technology to Install Albion Process at Rox Resources' Youanmi Gold Project

Брисбен, Австралия

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Glencore Technology has announced the installation of its Albion Process oxidative leaching technology at Rox Resources' Youanmi Gold Project in Western Australia.

Designed to economically treat refractory and semi-refractory ores, the project marks another important milestone for the Albion Process as miners increasingly seek practical solutions to unlock the next generation of gold deposits.

The global gold sector is entering a more complex era as miners increasingly turn to refractory and semi-refractory ores while free-milling deposits continue to decline.

Rox Resources' Youanmi Gold Project reflects this shift. The project contains both free-milling and sulphide-hosted gold mineralisation, with a significant refractory component that cannot be efficiently recovered using conventional processing alone.

"We have a few metallurgical complexities that mean we can't do a standard crush, grind and leach process," said Rox Resources General Manager – Studies Daniel Marchesi.

Following extensive metallurgical test work and the assessment of multiple processing routes, Rox Resources selected the Albion Process and IsaMill combination as the preferred solution. The technology provided a lower-capital, more practical alternative to pressure oxidation while delivering the metallurgical performance required for the project.

"Once we went through that process, doing all the metallurgical work and risk analysis, the Albion Process came up as the best option," Marchesi said.

The Albion Process combines Glencore Technology's IsaMill ultra-fine grinding technology with atmospheric oxidative leaching to economically liberate valuable metals from refractory sulphide ores. By avoiding high-pressure processing, it provides a simpler, lower-capital approach to treating complex deposits.

"We do the fine grinding in the IsaMill and then put it through an oxidative leach process; it works together in tandem," said Glencore Technology Manager – IsaMill and OxiLeach, Paul Bullock.

Bullock said the simplicity of the Albion Process allows operators to optimise oxidation to suit the orebody, minimising operating costs while maintaining high recoveries.

"The key thing is the simplicity of the Albion Process allows us to dial in, to be able to partially oxidise as much as we need and, therefore, trying to keep down the operating cost to a minimum level and providing benefit in recovery."

This flexibility was a defining factor in Rox Resources' technology selection, enabling the operation to efficiently manage variations in the Youanmi orebody while maximising gold recovery.

Beyond Youanmi, Glencore Technology and Rox Resources believe the project reflects a broader shift in the gold industry as miners seek practical solutions to develop increasingly complex refractory deposits.

"There's a lot of deposits out there that are either refractory or semi-refractory, and they're not being mined," Marchesi said.

Bullock believes projects such as Youanmi demonstrate how modern processing technologies can unlock previously uneconomic resources while accelerating project development.

"There's a large opportunity in that refractory space, and projects like this help open up those market opportunities," Bullock said.

With its simple process design and rapid commissioning capability, the Albion Process enables projects to accelerate the path to production while maintaining strong metallurgical performance.

"The ramp-up time can be very, very fast," Bullock said.

As the industry continues to transition toward more complex ore bodies, the Youanmi Gold Project is expected to become another important reference for the Albion Process, demonstrating how refractory resources can be developed economically and helping unlock the next generation of gold projects.

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