Larvotto expands technical capabilities at Hillgrove project

[Ben Graham]

Larvotto Resources (ASX: LRV) has expanded the technical capabilities at its flagship Hillgrove antimony-gold project with the acquisition of a core scanning system to support both exploration and metallurgical development activities.

The ECORE system — developed by Elemission Inc. — is an advanced, automated drill core scanner that uses laser ablation and atomic emission spectroscopy to provide detailed quantitative mineralogy in near real time.

Following the acquisition, Hillgrove becomes the only mine site in Australia equipped with these capabilities, highlighting its commitment to using the latest technology to produce the best production results, Larvotto said.

With ECORE, Larvotto can immediately scan drill core after drilling, providing multi-element and mineral maps and data. The rapid feedback would allow it to identify mineralized zones, alteration halos and key textural relationships crucial for understanding ore continuity and zonation, it said.

The ECORE technology would also help Larvotto’s exploration team to streamline geological logging and
targeting, optimize sample selection, and build a digital geological library.

“The addition of this capability represents a major step forward in Larvotto’s adoption of advanced,
automated mineralogy to optimize project evaluation and process design,” Ron Heeks, Larvotto’s managing director, said in a press release.

“ECORE supports our intention to continually grow the Hillgrove project in the coming years through ongoing exploration and metallurgical testwork,” he added.

Antimony in a ‘perfect storm’ of falling production, surging demand, Larvotto MD says

At Hillgrove, Larvotto is aiming to produce enough antimony minerals to meet up to 7% of global demand. The company acquired the project in 2023 and has since advanced it to a near-production stage, with first output targeted for the second quarter of next year.

The addition of ECORE provides a strategic edge in both efficiency and data quality across the project lifecycle, Heeks said.