【Ferro-alloys.com】：Tivan has completed a mini-pilot plant program for its Speewah Fluorite Project in Western Australia, producing acid-grade fluorspar above benchmark product specification.

The company produced about 195kg of acid-grade fluorspar product at a calculated average grade of 98.6 per cent calcium fluoride (CaF2), above the 97 per cent benchmark acidspar specification.

Tivan said the program provided further confirmation that Speewah can produce a premium-quality acid-grade fluorspar product suitable for hydrofluoric acid production.

Tivan executive chairman Grant Wilson said the result marked a significant step for the company and the project.

“The outstanding results of our mini-pilot program are an Australian first in acid-grade fluorspar, which highlight the world-class attributes of Speewah as a mineral resource,” Wilson said.

The mini-pilot was undertaken at ALS Metallurgy in Balcatta, Western Australia, and will support process engineering work under the project’s definitive feasibility study (DFS).

Samples from the program are set to be provided to up to 14 end users globally to support product assessment and marketing by Tivan’s joint venture partner Sumitomo Corporation, with a particular focus on customers in Japan.

“The results are a landmark technical achievement, as well as a fundamentally important commercial driver, empowering our strategic partner, Sumitomo Corporation, to progress the marketing campaign for the Project with confidence,” Wilson said.

The Speewah Fluorite Project is being advanced as a proposed Australian-first mining and processing operation to produce acid-grade fluorspar from fluorite ore, while in joint venture with Sumitomo Corporation and the Japan Organisation for Metals and Energy Security through their special purpose subsidiary, Japan Fluorite Corporation (JFC).

Tivan said the mini-pilot program met its major technical goals, including the production of on-specification acidspar concentrate for end-user assessment, the generation of tailings and product samples for development workstreams, and the de-risking of a larger pilot plant planned for later this year.

The planned full pilot is expected to process a significantly larger sample quantity and focus on 24-hour continuous operation, to further validate the flowsheet design and reduce project delivery risk.

Tivan, Sumitomo and JFC previously agreed a term sheet covering offtake of up to 100 per cent of product produced over the life of the project.

Under the term sheet, JFC would have the right to acquire up to 100 per cent of the product, with a commitment to purchase 80 per cent on a take-or-pay basis. A binding offtake agreement is targeted for the third quarter of 2026.

Wilson said the achievement reflected the work of Tivan’s broader project team.

“This achievement genuinely belongs to the team we have assembled at Tivan,” he said.

“Fluorite was discovered at Speewah in 1905. The difference is our young, dedicated and talented team, working collaboratively across multiple disciplines, from geology to engineering to social licence to finance, whilst advancing a broader mission across the north of Australia, with respect and resilience.

“For today, public congratulations are due to Brendon Nicol, technical director and Alex Botterill, process manager, for taking a giant step toward Australia delivering a new sovereign capability in critical minerals.”

• [Editor:Alakay]