Accent Resources finds a credible dry route for Magnetite Range

Dry Testwork Delivers High-Grade Magnetite Concentrate

Accent Resources NL (ASX:ACS) has cleared an important technical hurdle at its Magnetite Range Project, with independent LONGi Magnet Co., Ltd. testwork producing high-grade magnetite concentrates through a fully dry processing route. Four representative samples from the Julia and Robb deposits returned final concentrates grading between 66.3% and 68.0% Fe after dry grinding to approximately P85 75 microns and passing through a two-stage drum separator.

The strongest results came from the three higher-grade magnetite samples, which produced 66.7% to 68.0% Fe concentrates at 85.2% to 91.2% total iron recovery. Magnetic iron recovery was higher still, ranging from 97.0% to 98.2% across those samples, with the company reporting a peak overall result of 98.21%.

Lower-Grade Sample Shows the Flowsheet's Limits

The results were not uniform, and that matters for any future plant design. The purpose-selected lower-grade R-LBIF-14 sample also produced a 66.3% Fe concentrate, but at only 21.1% mass yield, 56.2% total iron recovery and 88.3% magnetic iron recovery. Accent says the sample represents a non-primary process feed type, rather than the expected core feed for the circuit.

That distinction keeps the announcement encouraging without making it definitive. The testwork was conducted at bench scale on four composites, and the release expressly warns that the outcomes are not a production forecast or final process design. Energy consumption, equipment sizing, material handling, dust control, concentrate moisture and operating costs remain unresolved.

Wet Polishing Adds a Product Quality Option

LONGi also tested a wet magnetic cleaning stage on the dry concentrates. The LJC unit produced final grades of 69.7% to 70.3% Fe, although final total iron recovery varied considerably from 59.2% to 88.6%. Accent presents that route as a possible finishing step for a higher-specification product, including potential direct reduced iron feed, rather than as a replacement for the dry circuit.

Pre-Feasibility Study Must Convert Results Into Economics

The immediate significance for Accent is that dry magnetic separation can now be included in the Magnetite Range pre-feasibility study as a technically credible alternative to wet processing. A successful dry route could reduce process-water demand and potentially lessen reliance on conventional wet concentration and tailings storage infrastructure, but those benefits are described by the company as possibilities requiring further engineering, environmental and economic assessment.

Accent's next work programme is aimed at closing that gap: representative composite confirmation, flowsheet optimisation, coarse dry rejection, fine dry cleaning and comparison of wet and dry finishing options. The project has a 523.3 million tonne JORC 2012 Mineral Resource grading 31.3% Fe, but the size of that resource does not remove the central processing question. The next meaningful test will be whether laboratory-grade concentrate performance survives scale-up without making the water savings uneconomic.