Woulfe Mining Corp WFEMF

NR

[fattail]

Woulfe Mining Metallurgical Recovery 15% Above Historical

 

28 Mar 2012 08:30 ET

Marketwire Canada

Woulfe Mining Corp. ("Woulfe" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:WOF)(OTCQX:WFEMF)(FRANKFURT:OZ4) is pleased to announce that metallurgical testwork has been completed for feasibility.

Brian Wesson (FAusIMM) CEO/President of Woulfe commented "It was not an easy decision for management to delay the feasibility study to seek out the best technology available as a base of metallurgical test work. What made this even more difficult for us is that our signed strategic agreements require the feasibility study for the completion of due diligence. This time and effort was well spent as we have now shown that recoveries of 85% can be achieved, some 15% higher than historical. This positively impacts the return on investment as higher concentrate grade reduces both capital and process costs. Truly a great achievement so now the feasibility is moving rapidly to completion, and will be released in mid-April 2012."

Metallurgical Testwork 85% recovery

Metallurgical testwork on the Sangdong scheelite ore has proved a highlight of finalising the inputs to the Sangdong Project Feasibility Study. Having established the optimum grind size, an all flotation circuit was trialled. The success of this and its lower capital cost compared with the more conventional gravity plus flotation circuit has resulted in its adoption as the project moves through feasibility to production.

The process first floats the molybdenum, bismuth and other sulphides into a sulphide concentrate using conventional sulphide flotation. The molybdenum and bismuth concentrate can either be sold or further processed to highly value added products. Having removed the sulphides, the scheelite is then initially floated giving it an upgrade ratio of up to 20 times at very high scheelite recovery. This concentrate is then thickened and heated as feed to a flotation circuit incorporating modifications to the well-known Petrov process. The small quantity of thickened and heated concentrate is floated using conventional, but intense flotation conditions. This has resulted in the production of concentrate grades of more than 70% WO3 at recoveries above 85%. The feasibility study has been modified to include these exciting results. New tonnage samples are now being mined from the advanced re-opening of the Sangdong mine to provide adequate feed to verify the feasibility study results by pilot plant testing.

Concentrates from the pilot plant will be used to define the design criteria for the planned ammonium paratungstate plant (APT plant) that under the IMC agreements will be funded by our off-take partner as part of the off-take agreement announced earlier this month.

[CJHallee]

Thanks fattail.  Two week delay to incorporate theoptimized recovery rates at 85% into the Feasibility Study.  Well worth it in my opinion.  Also, thanks to Woulfe for putting this news release out as they probably could have just have released this at the same time as the Feasibility without having to inform us in advance.  I like it.

[NickSmithNSC]

Thanks CJHallee we knew investors would be concerned about any delays so best to keep you all in the loop. Cheers nick

[junior_miner]

The gravity of this NR is enormous. - Higher recoveries add directly to the bottom line. - Flotation only flowsheet may improve recovery of by-products since they aren't lost in dense-media separation - Simpler flowsheet decreases concentrator capex - Higher concentrate grade means less volume need to be heated and treated in APT plant. - lower APT capex  - lower APT opex. A robust

[CJHallee]

You guys are doing all the right things Nick.  It is appreciated.

[whoisyourpapa]

GREAT NEWS!!!

[ark88]

The SP will pop when the FS is released in mid April. Looks to me like the presenr SP is the floor until the FS is out. Everything accomplished to date rides on the FS now.   "What made this even more difficult for us is that our signed strategic agreements require the feasibility study for the completion of due diligence."