Lion One builds Fiji’s first geochemical lab

Lion One Metals (TSXV: LIO) (ASX: LLO) just completed building a geochemical assay and metallurgical laboratory at its Fijian headquarters, on the island of Viti Levu.

The lab is the first of its kind in Fiji, as the country doesn’t have any commercial laboratory facilities for geochemical and metallurgical analysis.

Tuvatu has an indicated resource of 1.1 million tonnes at 8.46 g/t Au for 299,500 ounces of gold

The bulk of the lab’s work, with a process capacity of 400 samples per day, will be focused on material coming from Lion One’s Tuvatu gold project and surrounding exploration tenements.

Tuvatu comprises the largest undeveloped gold project in the island country and according to Lion One, it is expected to produce 100,000 ounces of the yellow metal per year over a 10-year mine life. 

As the company started exploration drilling back in April, the plan is that the new lab supports the ongoing campaign, resource definition, and other development activities.

But the Vancouver-based miner has said that it also plans to have the lab internationally certified for commercial operations in the near future to service local industries. 

“The new laboratory is equipped for gold analysis by fire assay with atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) finish. Geochemical assaying for a large range of other elements will be tested through Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES). The facility will also be utilized to conduct metallurgical optimization test work including flotation and leaching,” Lion One said in a media release.