Jan 19 2017
ALGOLD RESOURCES LTD. (TSXV: ALG) (the "Corporation") today announced results of preliminary metallurgical tests from drill core samples at its Tijirit project ("Tijirit") in Mauritania, the results of which continue to attest to the property's geological potential. Metallurgical work conducted consisted of grindability, heap leach amenability and gravity separation, and cyanidation and acid generation testing.
Preliminary metallurgical testing was carried out at SGS Canada in Lakefield on four composites using HQ core samples collected from the Eleonore, Sophie I and Sophie II, and Lily zones. The Eleonore composite was characterized by quartz veins associated with metasediments, the Sophie I composite was made up of quartz veins within banded iron formation ("BIF"). The Sophie II composite was made up of weathered BIF and the Lily composite was made up of metasediments. Each composite weighted between 70 kg and 130 kg.
Utilizing fire assay analysis, the head grades for each of the composites were as follow.
|
Zone
|
Composite No
|
Rock Type
|
Samples
Weight (kg)
|
Head Grade
(g/t Au)
|
|
Eleonore
|
1
|
Quartz vein with
metasediments
|
130.10
|
22.80
|
|
Sophie I
|
4
|
Quartz veins and BIF
|
90.20
|
5.36
|
|
Sophie II
|
3
|
Weathered BIF
|
70.55
|
1.53
|
|
Lily
|
2
|
Metasediments
|
131.5
|
0.67
|
As expected, the results demonstrate that the various mineralized zones at Tijirit have a wide range of crushing and rock strength characteristics with unconfined compression strength (UCS), with average values for each composite ranging from 29 to 102 MPa. The preliminary SMC grinding tests are inconclusive, however seem to be situated within range categories from soft (Sophie II), medium (Eleonore) to hard (Sophie II and Lily).
Recovery of gold amenable to gravity separation followed by cyanidation of the gravity tailings was conducted with the following results.
|
Sample
|
Zone
|
Feed Size
P80, µm
|
Au Extraction / Recovery
|
|
Gravity
|
Cyanidation
|
Gravity +
Cyanidation
|
|
Composite 1
|
Eleonore
|
144
|
57.9%
|
37.8%
|
95.7%
|
| |
100
|
57.9%
|
38.3%
|
96.2%
|
| |
79
|
57.9%
|
39.4%
|
97.3%
|
| |
49
|
57.9%
|
37.8%
|
95.7%
|
|
Composite 2
|
Lily
|
77
|
71.4%
|
25.7%
|
97.1%
|
|
Composite 3
|
Sophie II
|
73
|
33.3%
|
63.7%
|
97.0%
|
|
Composite 4
|
Sophie I
|
74
|
43.6%
|
49.5%
|
93.1%
|
Heap leach amenability was also conducted using a 28-day program on Composites 1, 2 and 3 for three crush sizes each (¾, ½ and ¼ inches). The percentages of gold extraction for each composite, at the end of a 28-day cycle, are indicated below.
|
Composite
|
Size
|
Au Extraction
|
| |
|
Day 28
|
|
1
|
¾"
|
22.3%
|
|
Eleonore
|
½"
|
12.3%
|
| |
¼"
|
38.9%
|
|
2
|
¾"
|
58.9%
|
|
Lily
|
½"
|
62.4%
|
| |
¼"
|
82.5%
|
|
3
|
¾"
|
66.9%
|
|
Sophie II
|
½"
|
70.1%
|
| |
¼"
|
61.9%
|
The Heap Leach Amenability indicates that the Lily ore would respond very well to heap leach at a crush size (¼") with a gold recovery of 82.5%. At this point in time, the results are inconclusive for the higher-grade Eleonore composite sample.
Preliminary acid generation tests were also conducted on the four composites. Results demonstrate that Composite 3 is classified as not-potentially acid generating (NPAG), and Algold is awaiting results for the 3 other composites.
"This first run of tests and the preliminary results are very encouraging," said François Auclair, Algold's President and Chief Executive Officer, "These results, along with the ongoing program, will help Algold to determine further metallurgical studies to be conducted on larger bulk samples at the promising Tijirit project in the future."
Quality Assurance / Quality Control (QA/QC)
Analytical work was carried out at SGS Lakefield, an ISO/IEC 17025 Certified Laboratory.