- 01200t trial starts at Tecomatlán plant.
- 02Tests plant-scale antimony grade and recovery.
- 03Commercial output remains unproven; results guide expansion.
Antimony Resources (ASX: ANT) has begun processing approximately 200 tonnes of third-party material at its Tecomatlán plant in Mexico, marking the first operating campaign since completing wet and dry commissioning.
Using feedstock from the nearby Chinantla mine, the proof-of-concept program is aiming to produce the plant’s first bulk antimony concentrate.
Independent assays will determine concentrate grade, metallurgical recovery, and impurity levels, providing evidence of whether laboratory results translate into plant-scale performance.
The campaign is an initial step towards a regional processing business supplied by three separate mining operations, although commercial production and concentrate sales have not yet been established.
Once independent results are available, Antimony Resources intends to assess whether a larger and potentially continuous processing program is warranted.
Testing Processing Model
The current campaign is designed to evaluate the entire operating sequence, including flotation and gravity separation, materials handling, sampling, weighing, and logistics ahead of any commercial shipment.
Laboratory test work on Chinantla material previously achieved up to 81.1% antimony recovery through bulk flotation and an upgraded concentrate grading up to 62.9% antimony.
Those figures remain preliminary laboratory outcomes rather than demonstrated recoveries or grades from the Tecomatlán processing plant.
“With Chinantla under a binding supply agreement and Vinatas and Coyul both returning encouraging results, we are building the regional feed base a processing hub needs to run continuously,” executive chair Shane Menere said.
“At a time when Western buyers are actively seeking antimony from outside China, a North American plant producing concentrate is exactly where we want to be.”
Regional Supply Base
Chinantla—about eight kilometres from the plant—is providing the current material under a binding five-year mineral supply agreement.
The Vinatas and Coyul operations have signed non-binding memoranda of understanding, giving the proposed hub additional potential feed sources without guaranteeing future deliveries.
Vinatas lies roughly 170km from Tecomatlán and its operator has indicated potential supply of around 80 tonnes a month, although the volumes and grades have not been independently verified by Antimony Resources.
Laboratory flotation testing of Vinatas material achieved up to 78.6% antimony recovery, while subsequent gravity upgrading produced concentrate grading 68.3% antimony.
The different processing characteristics of the three sources are intended to be accommodated by Tecomatlán’s combined flotation and gravity circuits.
Bench-Scale Coyul Results
New bench-scale tests on material from Coyul, approximately 28km from Tecomatlán, produced a primary concentrate grading 45.1% antimony in the best of four flotation trials.
That test recovered 44.6% of the antimony into the primary concentrate, with total recovery rising to 73.3% after additional flotation and Falcon gravity treatment of tailings.
Arsenic reported at 1.11% in the bulk concentrate, prompting further work on selective reagents, antimony recovery from tailings and the preferred processing sequence.
Alongside completing the Chinantla campaign, Antimony Resources plans to advance Vinatas towards a binding supply agreement and explore concentrate marketing options while progressing its Los Lirios mineral resource work and Nevada drilling preparations.
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