Zinc of Ireland advances ARGO pilot after strong recovery results

ARGO testwork strengthens the case for a pilot plant

Zinc of Ireland Limited (ASX:ZMI) has produced encouraging early evidence for its ARGO process, reporting average recoveries of 93% silver, 97% lead, 58% zinc and 80% copper across zinc leach residue from three sites. The results give the company a stronger technical platform as it works towards an ARGO pilot plant in early 2027.

The highest individual results included 99% silver recovery at one site and 100% lead recovery at another. The company says the process also produces leach products that could enable further treatment of residual material, potentially reducing the volume sent to landfill. Those are screening-stage results, however, and the next steps include optimisation, element recovery trials and the development of a full circuit model for a proposed installation processing more than 100,000 tonnes a year.

The critical minerals are the more consequential unanswered part of the program. ZMI is testing germanium, gallium and indium in the ARGO flowsheet and says initial screening has shown where those elements are concentrated, but it has not yet reported recovery percentages. The company expects further results in the coming weeks. Earlier coverage described the initial ARGO recovery results as reaching up to 99% silver recovery and helping bring forward pilot plans.

Grant and placement fund an accelerated development schedule

ARGO’s revised timetable is supported by an approximately A$1.2 million development grant from Belgian agency Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship. ZMI’s work at Solvomet in Belgium has been expanded into a 12-month program intended to move the flowsheet towards pilot-scale development, while engineering work is also under way for a full-scale plant and a subsequent techno-economic study.

After the quarter, ZMI completed a placement of 180 million shares at $0.018 each, raising gross proceeds of A$3.2 million. The funds are earmarked for ARGO testwork and economic studies, the VOLTA demonstration plant, Kildare drilling and working capital. The placement had previously been reported as a set of firm commitments in the company’s A$3.2 million placement, making the post-quarter completion an important funding step rather than a new capital proposal.

VOLTA and Kildare add execution risk to the timetable

ZMI is targeting first commissioning of a larger commercial-scale demonstration plant for its VOLTA lead-acid battery recycling process in Q4 2026. The plant, being developed with SERI Industrial in Italy, is intended to incorporate process improvements identified during the quarter. ZMI has also begun discussions on licensing and engineering, procurement and construction arrangements, although no completed commercial agreement is reported in the filing.

At the Kildare zinc-lead-germanium project in Ireland, the company has started a 3,500-metre drilling program targeting resource extensions, regional step-outs and possible germanium, gallium and indium mineralisation. The first hole reached approximately 500 metres, but drilling has been problematic and slower than expected. ZMI says it may reassess the most efficient way to complete the program if that continues.

Cash position leaves room for the next milestones

ZMI ended September with A$3.466 million in cash after a net quarterly cash outflow of A$626,000, including A$319,000 from operations, A$128,000 on exploration and evaluation, and A$179,000 in financing transaction costs. The Appendix 5B estimates 7.8 quarters of funding based on the quarter’s relevant outgoings, before considering the proceeds from the post-quarter placement.

That runway offers time to reach the next technical checkpoints, but the schedule is carrying several dependencies at once: critical-mineral recovery data, ARGO optimisation, a techno-economic study, pilot construction, VOLTA commissioning, licensing discussions and slower-than-planned drilling. The immediate test for ZMI is whether the promising first-stage recoveries can be converted into repeatable process economics and commercially bankable projects.