Up to 96% gold recovery from gravity processing and leach or flotation
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / August 12, 2020 / Nuinsco Resources Limited ("Nuinsco" or "the Company") (CSE:NWI) today announced positive results from metallurgical testing of gold-bearing material from the waste pile at the past-producing El Sid project in Egypt. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of low-cost, proven processing methods for gold recovery at El Sid.
"Gold recoveries of up to 96% obtained from simple, conventional, gravity and leaching or flotation processing supports our concept that El Sid can be exploited quickly using proven, off-the-shelf methods at a low capital cost," said Paul Jones, President and CEO. "Given that the waste pile has been mined, is at surface, is partially processed and has an average gold grade of 4.1 g/t these metallurgical results are very encouraging from the perspective of economic viability."
A total of 114kg of metallurgical samples were submitted to Met-Solve Laboratories in Langley, B.C. for gravity gold recovery determination. The sample passed through an initial crushing stage (Stage 1) followed by two stages of grinding (Stage 2 and Stage 3) - the gravity recoverable gold value of 67.8% contained in 1.54% of the processed rock is from a final grind size of 89 μm (note: 1,000µm = 1mm). Stage 1 achieved a gold recovery of 38.0% without any grinding whatsoever, with Stages 2 and 3 adding an additional 9.3% and 20.5% gold recovery respectively. Tailings from the tests comprise 98.46% of the total processed rock and grade 1.28 g/t Au. Subsequently the tailings were subjected to flotation and leach tests to determine the amenability of the material to flotation, using common gold flotation reagents, and cyanide leaching. The test results show that the feed sample is amenable to gravity concentration and the gravity tailings are amenable to flotation and cyanide leaching.
| Process Option | Gravity
Recovery | Global | Stage | Total
Recovery | Calculated
Head
Grade | Final
Tailings
Grade |
| | Au | (%) | | Au | (g/t) |
| Gravity Only | 67.8 | N/A | N/A | 67.8 | 3.90 | 1.28 |
| Gravity and Flotation | 75.0 | 20.9 | 83.4 | 95.8 | 3.53 | 0.18 |
| Gravity and Leaching | 69.0 | 27.0 | 87.5 | 96.0 | 3.82 | 0.16 |
The sample provided to Met-Solve (subject of Met-Solve report MS 1882 Nuinsco Resources Limited) was crushed to a top size of 1.8 mm then homogenized and split into test charges using a rotary splitter. A subsample of the head material was submitted for fire assay. The test incorporated intermediate grinding to recover the precious metal as it was liberated and the products from the test were analyzed on a size-by-size basis to determine precious metal deportment in the ore. The gravity tailings were subjected to a baseline cyanide leach test to determine the amenability of the material to cyanide leaching. The test was conducted using a leach time of 24 hours, a cyanide concentration of 1 g/L and a target pH of 10.5-11.0. The flotation test was conducted using a strong gold collector (Flex51 PM) and promotors (AMG900 and 3418A) to maximize gold recovery.
Nuinsco, through its Egyptian subsidiary Z-Gold Resources, won a competitive bid for the right to evaluate and produce gold from waste dumps and tailings at the pastproducing El Sid gold project in Egypt. Located in Egypt's Eastern Desert, approximately 90km west of the town of Quseir on the Red Sea coast, the El Sid project is easily accessible via a paved road that passes through the project site. Three past-producing gold mines are located on the project - the largest of which is the El Sid Mine which operated primarily between 1947 and 1957 and was Egypt's largest gold producer. If the El Sid project proves to be economically viable the timeline to production is short - measured in months - at which point the Company anticipates cash flow for nondilutive funding of existing projects and evaluation of potential project acquisitions.
P.L. Jones P. Geol. is a qualified person as defined by NI 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical contents of this press release regarding the El Sid project