Northern Freegold Resources (NFR) has begun the initial metallurgical testing program at its Freegold Mountain porphyry project, containing gold and copper, in Canada.
Vancouver-based SGS Canada will conduct the testing program, which will be supervised by a Senior Metallurgist, Jalal Tajadod.
Three main metallurgical sub-composites that were discovered by NFR will be the target of the test work conducted at the Revenue deposit. Material from the 2011 holes located in the Revenue resource region will form these six variability composites and representative sub-composites. Two representative holes will be created from the holes drilled during 2009 at the Nucleus Zone resource.
Around 100 kg of drill core coarse reject is present in every metallurgical composite sample. The company will differentiate the samples to find the mineralogy and then these samples undergo bulk copper of molybdenum floatation concentration and tungsten, silver and gold gravity separation. NFR will prepare a metal recovery flow sheet based on this test work. The economics of the Nucleus and Revenue deposits’ metal extraction can be calculated using this flow sheet.
According to John Burges, CEO and President of Northern Freegold, the capacity of the project has been determined by the company, along with the resource base extension. This metallurgical testing is considered to be the main phase of the project. The economics of the porphyry project is shown with the help of the resultant information.
The company is expecting to complete this metallurgical program for around 3-4 months.