The study conducted by Ausenco has covered 6,269ha in the Blackburn South area and 1,818ha in Blackburn Central.
The study, which was based on Snowden’s "Proof of Concept" mining study announced in July 2012, enables Latin to undertake drilling and proceed with pre-feasibility studies.
Latin will undertake mining at the project in two stages with a gap of four years between them.
Two IHC Beaver Type 500l bucket line dredges and a pumping system will be employed in each stage. Each dredge will have a capacity of 1,875t/h effective lift. The pumping system will transport screened dredged material through a floating pipeline to a floating heavy mineral concentrator situated in the dredge pond.
Heavy mineral concentrate is pumped as slurry from the floating concentrator to a mineral separation plant, where it is separated into concentrates containing magnetite, andalusite, zircon, ilmenite, rutile and gold.
Latin Resources managing director Chris Gale said the scoping study encouraged the company to proceed towards production.
"The first phase Scoping Study completed by Ausenco now adds to our JORC inferred resources and this coupled with the excellent access to infrastructure, water and power allows the next phase of planning to continue for the development of the Guadalupito project," he added.
