The work showed the mineralised quartz could be separated from the non-mineralised basalt, with the first test achieving a 1.5 times upgrade, from 0.78 grams per tonne gold to 1.2gpt.

Only 0.55% of the gold in sample was lost to fines in preparation for ore-sorting.

Recoveries were up to 91.9% with just two ore-sorting passes and a 28% volume reduction was achieved.

Apollo Hill has a current resource of 20.7 million tonnes at 1gpt gold for 685,000 ounces of gold.

Saturn managing director Ian Bamborough described the results as a very important breakthrough.

"Positive ore-sorting results have the potential to deliver a step change in the feed grade of material delivered into any mineral processing circuit," he said.

"Subject to further positive results, we may have the potential to significantly improve options for the economic development of Apollo Hill. Further test work is planned to optimise this first stage processing option."

Patersons Securities analyst Xavier Braud said the results further enhanced the economic potential of the project.

"We believe that the combination of innovative technology with the discovery of new higher grade mineralisation in the Apollo Hill hanging wall will take the deposit to a new level in the near future," he said.

"Drill results from the latest campaign are still pending and could be a catalyst for the Saturn share price."

Earlier this month, drilling confirmed a new high-grade lode, with results included 13m at 5gpt gold, including 4m at 9.8gpt gold from 74m.

Apollo Hill is near Leonora in Western Australia.

Saturn was a spin-off of Peel Mining and listed last year, with Peel retaining 36%.

Shares in Saturn were unchanged at 23c, valuing the company at just under $15 million.