Emerita Reports Albion Process Achieves 81% Gold and 96% Silver Recovery from Post Flotation Material Samples at IBW Project
High-grade metallurgical breakthroughs at IBW offset by ongoing Spanish legal quagmires
The most recent news (March 02, 2026) reports successful metallurgical test results using the Albion hydrometallurgical process on samples from the Iberian Belt West (IBW) project. The process achieved 81% gold recovery and 96% silver recovery. This follows previous testing of the "Pyrolosis + CLEVR" process which yielded similar gold results (81.5%) but significantly lower silver recovery (50-64%). The Albion process is an atmospheric oxidation route that appears more effective at liberating precious metals from the project's refractory sulphide matrices.
The impact is Routine - Positive. While the recovery rates are excellent and technically robust, they are incremental improvements to a flowsheet already being optimized for the Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS). - Technical De-risking: The results confirm that the "refractory" nature of the ore (which often kills project economics) can be overcome using standard, albeit specialized, technology. - Economic Enhancement: Moving silver recovery from ~60% to 96% adds significant "by-product" value, which could lower the all-in sustaining cost (AISC) per pound of zinc or copper once the PFS is released. - Expectation Alignment: This is in line with management’s January 2026 update promising metallurgical breakthroughs. It does not, however, solve the primary hurdle of the company: the final permitting and the resolution of the Aznalcóllar legal dispute.
Emerita is a Canadian developer focused on high-grade polymetallic VMS deposits in Spain. - Flagship Project: Iberian Belt West (IBW), located in the Huelva Province. It consists of three main deposits: La Romanera, La Infanta, and El Cura. - Resource: 18.96 Mt Indicated at 8.44% ZnEq and 6.80 Mt Inferred at 8.72% ZnEq (as of March 2025). - Stage: Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) underway.