New Talisman Gold Mines (ASX:NTL) has successfully produced gold concentrate from its Talisman mine in New Zealand without the use of hazardous chemicals — and at whopping great grades too.
Two batches of concentrate totalling 1.2kg delivered grades of 989 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and 4,120g/t silver, and 876g/t gold and 2,800g/t silver.
To put that into context, anything above 5g/t gold and 50g/t silver is generally considered high grade. So these grades would definitely be considered “bonanza”.
High levels of other metals such as iron, copper and zinc were also reported in the concentrate, which was produced by passing ore that had been ground to less than 150 microns through the centrifugal concentrator and performing a clean-up on the shaker table.
New Talisman is currently assaying a 2kg batch of concentrate before dispatching it to a major New Zealand-based concentrate end user for test work to form the basis of a commercial offtake agreement.
The company said that while further tests would be required to confirm recovery rates and mineral content of the waste product, the result was an important step in its goal to replicate previous test work on a larger scale.
New Talisman’s end goal is to achieve economically viable recovery of gold and silver, the effect of different grind sizes on the precious metal yield, and efficiently removing sulphide minerals from the ore to deliver an inert waste product suitable for industrial applications.
“We are very pleased with the progress at the pilot plant with the first small volumes of gold concentrate being produced from the Talisman Mine, which have now been sent off for assaying. Once optimal recovery rates are achieved processing of larger samples and design of a larger volume plant can commence,” chief executive officer Matt Hill said.
In other ASX gold news today:
While New Talisman is tangling with gold processing, other juniors on the ASX are pressing on with exploration work
Syndicated Metals (ASX:SMD) has kicked off a new round of exploration drilling targeting near-surface extensions of known high-grade structures at the Newington gold project in Western Australia’s Southern Cross greenstone belt. The 11-hole program targets the Dawsons, Newfield Central and Newfield prospects and will be accompanied by a soil sampling program across the broader project area. This drilling is being conducted as part of the company’s farm-in agreement with Newfield Resources to earn up to 85 per cent of the Newington project, which has historical production of 32,366 ounces of gold.
Dark Horse Resources’ (ASX:DHR) surface sampling work has identified five new mineralised zones at its Presagio target within the Las Opeñas gold project in Argentina and extended its length to the east by 1km to 3.7km. Four of the five zones returned anomalous gold and silver results with one vein returning bonanza silver grades of up to 2,089g/t.
Read More: Dark Horse tells investors it has some pretty nice gold, silver hits; shares jump 67pc
Gateway Mining (ASX:GML) has completed a detailed gravity survey that is expected to open the door for longer-term exploration at its Gidgee gold project near Sandstone, Western Australia. The survey will allow for more accurate drill targeting, help understand the location of key geological contacts and define regionally significant structures that have a controlling effect on the locations of gold mineralisation.
Read More: Jubilee-linked Gateway one step closer to maiden gold resource at Gidgee