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[Ferro-Alloys.com] BCA: Beneficiation Testwork Delivers Manganese Grades over 40%

 Highlights

• Sighter level beneficiation testwork produced a high-grade manganese oxide concentrate from each of the lower, mid and high-grade Wandanya feeds using a simple density-based technique (Heavy Liquid Separation – HLS).

• Significant manganese upgrades, on average, produced close to or over the 44% Mn oxide benchmark: o High-Grade MnO composite upgraded from a raw feed grade of 45% Mn to grades between 48.2% to 49.9% Mn*

o Medium-Grade MnO composite upgraded from a raw feed grade of 30.9% Mn to grades between 39.3% to 40.3% Mn*

o Low-Grade MnO composite upgraded from a raw feed grade of 24.4% Mn to grades between 37.9% to 41.8% Mn*

• Mn recoveries for the high and medium-grade feeds ranging between 91% and 87% respectively with low deleterious elements from the beneficiated Mn products.

• Additional HLS testwork to continue followed by larger scale dense media separation (DMS)

• The RC rig has now mobilised to site to commence the 15,000m infill and expansion drill program with baseline environmental and further heritage surveys through April.

 Black Canyon’s Managing Director Brendan Cummins said:

“Continuing on from the positive crush and sizing analysis, the beneficiation testwork applied to the manganese oxide composites have yet again delivered strong results for the project. Most of the manganese product grades from the beneficiated low, medium and high-grade composites either were close to or over 40 % Mn showing the amenability of the mineralisation to upgrade using simple density-based methods.

“The important take away from the metallurgical testwork program is the quality and grade of the manganese oxide product that could potentially be produced from Wandanya. Potential end users remain very interested in our product specifications as we continue to move the project forward through exploration, resource definition and pre-development activities.

“This phase of sighter level testwork has revealed several conceptual processing options for the Company to consider as we further understand the mineralisation styles, grade distribution and how that impacts grade–recovery curves. The geometallurgical characteristics of the discovery will be important as we examine the processing options to inform potential flowsheet design and cost estimates for a planned Scoping Level economic analysis later in 2026. Having a well-informed mining and processing strategy is a key objective as we develop the Wandanya project.”

Australian manganese explorer and developer, Black Canyon Limited (Black Canyon or the Company) is pleased to announce the sighter level Stage 2 HLS results. This follows the initial Stage 1 crush, sizing and assay metallurgical testwork across multiple PQ3 diamond drill core composites received from the Wandanya Project.

Three manganese oxide composites comprising low, medium and high were submitted for heavy liquid separation testwork. The sighter level metallurgical program has demonstrated key benefits of the mineralisation discovered at Wandanya, including;

1. The suitability of all the manganese oxide composites to beneficiate with the application of a simple density-based separation technique.

2. High quality low-impurity content product specification.

3. Over 70% of the manganese grade and recoveries were produced from the fractions over 8mm, which is positive for producing a lump size product.

4. Multiple options for developing a final product strategy. This may include producing several saleable products such as a high-grade 42-44% Mn Direct Shipping Ore (DSO), in addition to a blended mid and low-grade feed product to produce a 38-40% Mn concentrate or potentially a combined low, mid and high-grade feed to deliver a 40-42% Mn beneficiated concentrate.

Further testwork will assist in developing the conceptual operating and processing strategies.

With the completion of the Stage 2 HLS testwork the Company is planning additional HLS in preparation for larger scale DMS. The additional HLS testwork will examine blended feeds combining low, medium and high-grade Mn composites in ratios reflecting the current geometallurgical understanding of the discovery.

Wandanya Project (BCA 100%)

Stage 1 Composite Collection

Testwork samples were selected from the PQ3 diamond core drill program completed in November 20252. Representative examples of mineralisation were collected from along the full 3km of strike currently drill tested by the Company focusing on the mineralisation type, geology, grade and spatial distribution. The PQ3 holes twinned previously drilled RC holes and a total of 22 diamond core holes were completed for 298m. Refer to Appendix 1 for the diamond drill collar listing and Appendix 2 for JORC Table 1 information.

Stage 1 of the metallurgical testwork program comprised the collection of representative master composite samples, followed by crushing and homogenisation to ensure consistent and reliable feed material for subsequent testwork. The master manganese composite head grades for the testwork are provided in Table 1.

Table 1: Head grade assays from the manganese oxide (MnO) composites

Stage 2 Heavy Liquid Separation

Following on from the initial crush, sizing and assay metallurgical testwork, the low, medium and high-grade Mn oxide composites were submitted for HLS testwork. The composites were screened at 8mm to produce a fine (-8mm+1mm) and a coarser fraction (+8mm-38mm). The fine and coarse fractions were subjected to heavy liquid separation at a liquid specific gravity (SG) of 2.80 g/cm3.

The objective of the sighter level testwork is to examine the beneficiation characteristics of the Mn oxide composites at various grades. The testwork also assesses the grade–recovery trends for mineralisation styles at various grade ranges with the results consistently demonstrating positive beneficiation outcomes.

At higher feed grades the overall recoveries are high at around 90%, reflecting a higher portion of semi-massive to massive Mn oxide which though coarse crushing liberates well from the gangue. The lower grade Mn oxide composite upgraded from a feed of 24.4% Mn to 40.5% Mn with a lower overall recovery at around 47%. This lower recovery reflects more disseminated and fracture fill related remobilised manganese bands/veins. Further testwork examining a finer crush is planned to potentially increase the recovery of the lower grade style of mineralisation.

The beneficiation grade and recovery information from these initial HLS tests will be used to inform the selection of a number of blends based on relative proportions of low, medium and high-grade feeds to reflect the current geometallurgical understanding of the mineralisation.

The results are displayed in Table 2 and show significant grade uplifts, especially from the lower and moderate feed materials. Table 3 summarises the beneficiated Mn product specifications from the MnO samples tested.

Next Steps

Further metallurgical testwork is underway to examine several low, medium and high-grade blend combinations to reflect the geometallurgy and grade distribution of Wandanya. At the conclusion of this HLS program at least 2 larger scale blends will be formulated for Dense Media Separation (DMS) and assay analysis.

The iron lump samples are currently being tested for strength, durability, and degradation characteristics under impact using drop tower tests.

At the conclusion of the test work program the data will be reviewed, and conceptual flowsheets will be designed for Scoping Level cost estimates. Further larger scale testwork using more diamond drill core or bulk samples from pits to be excavated from site are being considered once the deposit has been drilled out.

Field programs have commenced with substantial progress on the drill line clearing siteworks while the RC Rig is expected to arrive in the coming days for the 15,000m program. The rig will be initially infill drilling the 3km strike of known mineralisation before drilling extensions to the north and east.

Other surveys planned to commence in Q2 include detailed flora/vegetation, fauna, short range endemics (SRE) and further heritage surveys.

• [Editor:tianyawei]