91% recovery – that's quite goodGood news: 91% recovery rate! Now it's getting interesting how PAA will decide in near term. Cannot imagine that Pan American is waiting until this stock is far beyond 2 bucks again or a 3rd party come in to join the play.Orko, Pan American yield 91% Ag recovery at La Preciosa
2009-12-16 05:47 ET - News Release
See News Release (C-PAA) Pan American Silver Corp
Mr. Kettina Cordero of Pan American reports
PAN AMERICAN SILVER AND ORKO SILVER ANNOUNCE POSITIVE TEST RESULTS AT THE LA PRECIOSA PROJECT
OrkoSilver Corp. and Pan American Silver Corp.'s phase one metallurgicaltesting conducted on representative samples of the different veins atthe La Preciosa joint venture project in Durango, Mexico, have yieldedexcellent results.
Pan American has completed a first phasedetailed metallurgical program, which included: work index tests,abrasion tests, mineralogical studies, gravity tests, floatation testsand cyanide leach tests. The program was a follow-up to the preliminarytesting conducted in 2008 by Orko (Orko's news in Stockwatch April 17,2008). Additional flotation studies are still under way.
Simplecyanide leaching yielded average silver recoveries of 91 per cent,although the use of selective oxidants could further enhance theseresults. In addition, Pan American has been successful in reducingcyanide consumption to 1.6 kilograms per tonne, which is materiallylower than the results from the metallurgical work previously completedby Orko. Lastly, the current testwork has shown that with the use ofoxidants, the leach cycle times can be reduced to 48 hours with minimalimpact on ultimate silver recovery.
Gary Cope, president of OrkoSilver, stated: "This is excellent news. Confirming thestraight-forward leaching characteristics of the ore while reducingboth cyanide consumption and leach times are clear enhancements to theLa Preciosa project."
Also commenting on the metallurgicalresults, Geoff Burns, president and chief executive officer of PanAmerican Silver, said: "These are very good results and better than weexpected. We are fully engaged in all aspects of the project and stillexpect to produce a full feasibility study for La Preciosa by the endof next year."
In addition to continuing delineation andexploration drilling, as well as doing additional metallurgicaltesting, the project is being actively advanced on a number of othercritical path items. Hydrogeological services have been contracted tobegin determining appropriate water sources and Pan American has beenin active dialogues with the local communities and land owners in theproject's immediate vicinity who would be affected by La Preciosa'sdevelopment.
Technical information contained in this news releasehas been reviewed by Michael Steinmann, PGeo, executive vice-president,geology and exploration; and Martin Wafforn, PEng, vice-president oftechnical services, who are Pan American's qualified persons for thepurposes of National Instrument 43-101. George Cavey, PGeo, is Orko'squalified person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101.