Modern Mining July 2015

MINING News

Improved recoveries from test work on Fair Bride ore

AIM-quoted Xtract Resources announced on 29 June 2015 that it had agreed to acquire 100 %of the Fair Bride gold project fromAurochMinerals. The project is said to be 18 months from production and six months from the completion of a Bankable Feasibility Study (BFS). At the time of the announcement in June, it was reported that recover- ies of greater than 80 % in the sulphide ore had been achieved from test work to date but that further optimisation work was underway. The results from this optimisation work commissioned by the Auroch team have been received and the following is highlighted: q 737 kg of diamond drill core from the Fair Bride sulphide zones were shipped to Nagrom laboratories in Perth, Western Australia in May 2015; q the objective was to confirm and expand on the earlier flotation and gravity pre-concentrating testing done on Fair Bride ore in 2006; q the sample was ground to P90 -0,075 mm and then four screening tests, using different reagent suites, were undertaken to determine the best conditions for a bulk flotation run to produce the required samples; q recoveries of between 91 % and 94 % were achieved in comparison to previous work where recoveries of just over 80 % were achieved; q the recoveries were achieved on a mass pull of between 9 % and 13 %. Commenting on the test work results, Jan Nelson, CEO, said: “The flo- tation results commissioned by the Auroch team show a considerable improvement in recoveries of sulphide zone ore. This will impact signifi- cantly on the potential revenues that the project could generate. Lower mass pull results recovering more than 50 % of the gold at less than 10 % and gravity concentration at a coarser grind recovering up to 70 % of the gold at a much reduced energy consumption are expected to substantially reduce the cash costs of the project. This clearly highlights the quality of this project and the potential returns Xtract could generate from this project.”  Financing raised for lithium/ tantalum project in Zimbabwe AIM-traded Premier African Minerals has raised £450 000 through the issue of new ordinary shares to finance commencement of early development at its Zulu lithium and tantalum project in Zimbabwe. George Roach, Premier’s CEO, commented: “Following an unsolicited approach, the company is pleased to have completed this direct place- ment intended primarily to develop the Zulu lithium and tantalum project (the Zulu project), which is a pegmatite with massive lithium mineralisa- tion. Orebodies such as this lend themselves to rapid development through pilot plant production both as an exploration tool and as a revenue pro- ducer. The investor support is gratifying and an endorsement of the Board’s strategy and will support rapid development of this project.” Zulu is located in south-central Zimbabwe. An historical exploration target estimation of the lithium mineralisation by Rhodesian Selection Trust suggested that 1,4 million tonnes of pegmatite at a possible grade of 1,4 per cent LiO 2 could be present. Two types of pegmatite have been identified in the area; both have estimated grades of 1,2 % lithium. Premier is also currently developing the RHA tungsten project in north- west Zimbabwe. The plant at the RHA site has been commissioned and has been running on a 24-hour continuous production cycle since 26 June. First commercial shipments of product are expected to start this month (July). 

July 2015  MODERN MINING  11