Caravel Minerals Limited announced the inclusion of a Molybdenum Recovery Circuit (MRC) in the process flowsheet for the Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) being undertaken on its 100%-owned Caravel Copper Project, located 120km north-east of Perth in Western Australia. Test work completed as part of the Caravel Copper Project Pre-Feasibility Study 3 demonstrated encouraging molybdenum recoveries, sufficient to warrant further evaluation as part of the DFS. Strong supply/demand fundamentals for the metal indicate the potential to deliver significant value upside for the Caravel Copper Project for a relatively small incremental capital investment and minor increase in operating cost.

The Caravel Copper Project MRC design and cost was assessed during the Pre-Feasibility Study using data from reference operations, primarily in South America. The analysis was also supported by Project engineering and metallurgical assessments, resulting in provision for an MRC in the processing plant layout. The MRC design includes flotation of molybdenum concentrate, followed by thickening, and filtering prior to bagging and loading for transport (Figure 1).

The MRC would be installed as a final stage within the process plant, thereby providing the ability to operate the MRC based on prevailing molybdenum prices. This is widely practised at similar copper-moly mining operations and, importantly, has no impact on primary copper production.