Special Report: Aspiring gold miner Chesser Resources (ASX:CHZ) announces “excellent” results from preliminary ‘bottle roll’ metallurgical test work from Area A at its flagship Diamba Sud project in Senegal.

Successful metallurgical test work is hugely significant when it comes to turning an exciting project into a potentially profitable mining operation.

Early stage bottle roll test work – when samples of ore are processed in a leaching solution – was undertaken by Chesser on 10 drilling samples from the Area A prospect at Diamba Sud.

The results provide info on potential recovery rates and reagent (chemicals) usage for a gold processing operation.

A crucial challenge for any aspiring miner is ‘recovery’: the amount of saleable metal obtained from the deposit following the refining process.

The 48-hour direct cyanide leach average gold recovery was a high 96 per cent on average, Chesser says. That means at least 96 per cent of the gold was recovered into the concentrate, and only 4 per cent was lost.

Results also showed a straightforward, non-refractory metallurgical characteristics, with a likely processing route incorporating a simple, cheap and efficient cyanide leach circuit.

(‘Refractory’ gold ore is typically harder to economically process via standard processing methods.)

The mineralisation is ‘clean’, with very low presence of toxic elements such as arsenic and mercury.

This highlights the potential for low to moderate consumption of cyanide and lime, which points to a favourable impact on operational costs, Chesser says.

These preliminary metallurgical results are extremely encouraging and are a significant step in de-risking Chesser’s high-grade gold discovery at Diamba Sud, managing director Mike Brown says.

“Clean, non-refractory mineralisation with very high gold recoveries from direct cyanidation highlights the potential for a simple, industry standard gold processing flow sheet,” he says.

“These samples from Area A are sulphide mineralisation in fresh rock, which is near surface, and based on current drilling are representative of rock type and mineralisation intersected to date.

“With drilling advancing on the 20,000m drill program at Diamba Sud we look forward to updating the market with results when they are received.”

Further met test work will be undertaken at completion of the current 20,000m drill program.

This will include samples from Area D and test recoveries using coarser grind size and reduced residence times — major variables impacting processing capital and operating costs.

 

This article was developed in collaboration with Chesser, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.