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- 24 hour gravity/leach extraction values of 98.6 to 99.0%
- 63 to 76% gravity component determined by bulk gravity testing
- 24 hour whole ore leach gold extraction values of 90 to 94%
- Historical 2018 metallurgical testwork also achieved 99% total gold extraction
WIN Metals (ASX:WIN) has taken a key step towards development with the receipt of promising gold extraction testwork from recently sourced samples from the Radio gold mine in WA’s Yilgarn Gold Belt.
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Testing has confirmed that ore from the mine is free milling, contains an appreciable gravity gold content and is amenable to conventional gold processing techniques, indicating the potential for high gold recoveries at plant scale.
MD and CEO, Steve Norregaard, said the results provide further technical support for WIN’s ongoing evaluation of development options for Radio.
“This last bit of confirmatory news concludes the relevant technical evaluation of the project and what good news it is with very high gravity gold recoveries achieved and excellent leach recoveries on gravity tails material indicating potential overall recoveries in excess of 95% in a plant operating scenario as being readily achievable,” he said.
“WIN is now firmly positioned to progress Radio towards a development decision in the near future, with a clear objective of transforming the company into a cash-generating gold producer.”
The metallurgical testwork program was undertaken on two bulk bags of reverse circulation (RC) drill samples provided to Fremantle Metallurgy to prepare the bulk composites.
Each composite was subject to 72-hour cyanidation tests at P80 grind sizes of both 75 and 300 microns (μm). The cyanidation conditions used (pH 10.5 and 500 pm initial NaCN) broadly appropriate to indicate plant scale behaviour.
The 75 μm tests realised 90.1% and 94.7% gold extraction for composite 1 and 2 respectively in 24 hours. Final gold extraction after 72 hours was materially higher at 97.6% and 99.4%, suggesting the presence of coarse free gold.
Mr Norregaard said this is supported by the cyanidation tests performed at the 300 μm grind, which also reached high gold extractions after 72 hours (95.9% and 97.4%) despite considerably lower gold extractions at the 24 hour mark (81.1% and 70.0%).
He said these tests indicate the free milling nature of the samples tested and a degree of insensitivity to grind size pending the effective preconcentration and treatment of coarse gold grains.
Further test work using larger samples was then conducted to evaluate the gravity gold content at various liberation sizes, between 75 and 500 μm.
Radio currently contains a mineral resource of 345,000 tonnes at 3.7 grams per tonne (g/t) for 41,000 ounces of gold.
WIN was steady at 1.9¢ with a Mkt cap of $16.29M prior to markets opening.
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