Special Report: Rox appears to have a straightforward pathway to gold production at its Grace deposit after initial metallurgical test work returned excellent recoveries.

Gold recoveries of up to 99.8 per cent in fresh rock and 98.7 per cent are a strong indicator that the new zones of mineralisation discovered from late 2019 through to 2020 within granite are likely to be amenable to conventional gravity and cyanide leach processing.

Adding interest, Rox Resources (ASX:RXL) noted that up to 69 per cent gold recovery was achieved using just gravity concentration.

“I am pleased with these excellent initial metallurgical test work results from the Grace deposit,” managing director Alex Passmore said.

“Particularly encouraging is the relatively high gravity recoverable gold from a coarse grind.”

He added that while the gold ores at the broader Youanmi project show a variety of metallurgical characteristics, it is becoming increasingly evident that granite-hosted, low sulphide mineralisation such as that at the Grace deposit is free milling.

The market obviously liked what it saw, sending shares in RXL up 12.5 per cent to 3.6c in early morning trade.

Youanmi and Grace

Rox holds a 70 per cent stake in the Youanmi joint venture, which includes the historical Youanmi mine that produced about 667,000oz of gold at an average grade of 5.47 grams per tonne since its discovery in 1901 during three main periods: 1908 to 1921, 1937 to 1942, and 1987 to 1997.

Exploration carried out by Rox and its partner Venus Metals (ASX:VMC) have since confirmed that there’s still plenty of gold to be found.

Much of this work has – particularly in the latter part of 2020 – focused on the Grace prospect where drilling has returned high-grade hits such as 25m grading 34.79g/t gold from a depth of 143m.

These spectacular results; the new geological understanding from 2020 drilling and geophysics; and the revelation that ore from Grace and possibly other granite-hosted deposits in the Younami is free milling have combined to positively reset perspectives on the Youanmi Belt.

It is not a stretch to assume that future exploration will focus on Grace-like targets with the view towards delivering more free milling deposits.

 

This article was developed in collaboration with Rox Resources, 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.

 

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