Metallurgical testwork suggests gold ore processing from Zenith’s Red Mountain project could be a textbook double: straightforward and affordable.

Standard sighter level leach testwork hit high gold recoveries averaging 83.3% with low levels of cyanide and lime consumption along with fast leach kinetics, results which translate into quick gold recovery at relatively low costs.

This has some very positive ramifications for any potential development of the project in Queensland.

Zenith Minerals (ASX:ZNC) says while the initial results are highly encouraging, further detailed variability testing will stay the course as the two composite samples returned differing intensities of 95.8% gold and 70.7% gold.

“I am pleased to report that initial metallurgical testwork on gold mineralisation at Red Mountain has returned high average gold recoveries using industry standard leaching technology,” chief executive officer Michael Clifford said.

“As the Red Mountain gold mineralised zone continues to grow, we will undertake more detailed metallurgical testwork to confirm these initial sighter tests.

“I am also looking forward to completing the deep diamond drill hole we have planned to test the central copper-gold core target at Red Mountain, but unfortunately, we’ve had to postpone commencement of this hole until the new year.

“Heavy rain and flooding in Queensland have restricted access to the project and to the drill rig which is located on a third-party project site.”

Metallurgical testwork

The testwork was conducted on two composite samples of diamond drill core from the high-grade western gold zone at Red Mountain.

One sample represented gold with low arsenic levels within two thirds of all drilled intersections, while the other contained higher levels of arsenic like those found in the remaining third.

However, the lower arsenic intersections also contain just a third of the contained gold while the remaining two thirds are located within the higher arsenic intersections.

Sighter level testwork returned 95.8% recoveries from the low arsenic composite and 70.7% recoveries in the high arsenic composite.

 

 

 

This article was developed in collaboration with Zenith Minerals, 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.