First Gold Pour
Perth, June 18, 2015 AEST (ABN Newswire) - ABM Resources NL (
ASX:ABU) is pleased to announce an update on the development of the Old Pirate High-Grade Gold Deposit located on the Company's Twin Bonanza Gold Project in the Northern Territory of Australia and the Coyote Processing Plant (leased from Tanami Gold) located in Western Australia.
Progress from the commissioning of the Coyote Processing Plant
- Coyote Processing Plant commissioning continues:
* Crushing and grinding circuits commissioned and operating at 30 tonnes per hour;
* Gravity gold circuit trials (Knelson concentrators & Acacia reactor) operational;
* Leach tanks filled with ore slurry, cyanide solution and carbon;
* First gold poured from initial gravity concentrate with first gold dore bar produced.
- Mining continues at the Old Pirate High-Grade Gold Deposit.
Darren Holden, Managing Director of ABM said, "It is a great milestone for the Company to achieve its first gold pour. With momentum in mining and processing building we look forward to bringing one of Australia's highest grade open pit gold deposits to fruition."
Commissioning of Coyote Gold Processing Plant
ABM is utilising the Coyote Processing Plant under the terms of a lease agreement with Tanami Gold NL (refer to announcement 07/07/2014). Following the completion of a refurbishment program in May, ABM's processing and maintenance teams have been testing and commissioning various parts of the circuit as per the table below.
Crushing circuit
Commissioned and operating
Capable of 100 tonnes per hour
and hence only part-time
operation required
Grinding circuit (ball mill and
classifying cyclones)
Commissioned and operating
Capable of >30 tonnes per hour.
Water balance work underway
Knelson gravity gold
Concentrators x 2
In commissioning and operating
Operational with optimisation
tests, cycle automation & cycle
timing continuing
Acacia Reactor (intensive cyanide
leach of gravity concentrates)
Commissioned and operating
Optimisation works continuing
Leach tanks (x 5)
In commissioning and first fills
complete
First fills with cyanide solution
and carbon complete
Electrowinning and gold room
Commissioned and operating
First gold pour complete
This commissioning work indicates a full time throughput rate of approximately 250,000+ tonnes per annum. ABM intends to process 150,000 tonnes of ore over the first year of operation and will operate the plant on a campaign milling basis (2 weeks on and 1 week off).
The Processing Plant has transitioned to a continuous 24 hour operational basis (day shift and night shift). The plant is primarily manually controlled with only limited automation, and, to allow for a greater level of control and operating efficiency, ABM is currently installing automation to certain sections of the Processing Plant.
To date mainly low-grade ore (less than 4g/t gold) blended with limited medium grade (4 to 10g/t gold) and high grade (>10g/t gold) ore parcels has been fed into the circuit for commissioning purposes. The first gold pour from gravity gold concentrates has been completed and transported.
Gold inventory is still accumulating in the circuit and accurate reconciliation / recovery calculations are not yet possible. However, based on mill feed, leach feed and tailings assay grades, early indications show that the targeted high gravity and total recoveries can be achieved. Further gold pours are scheduled and will take place on a regular basis.
Update from Mining at Old Pirate
Mining is progressing well at the Old Pirate Deposit. Ore from the top 5 metres, from areas not mined in the 2013 trial mining, is continuing to be mined and delivered to the Coyote Processing Plant. However, the priority has been to strip the waste rock from either side of the trial mining areas to expose the entire ore system below the level of the 2013 trial mining program. The Old Pirate South and Golden Hind pits have now exposed the ore-system to below the 2013 trial mining levels (5 metres below surface) with the geology broadly consistent with the geological interpretation. Excavation at the Old Pirate Central and Western Limb pits is still progressing in the top 5 metres and the main high-grade zones mined in the trial mine are yet to be exposed.
Approximately 8500 tonnes of ore have been mined to date and the ore mining rate is scheduled to increase with the full exposure of high-grade zones in all 4 open pits.
About the Old Pirate High-Grade Gold Deposit
The Old Pirate High-Grade Gold Project, which is part of the wider Twin Bonanza Gold Camp, consists of a series of gold-bearing quartz veins with an overall strike-length of ~1.8 kilometres. Veins range from a few centimetres to zones greater than 6 metres in width with individual veins varying in grade and width along strike. Quartz veins are both parallel with stratigraphy, preferentially following shale horizons in an overall anticline structure, and also cross-cut stratigraphy following shear-zones and other structures.
Gold is characterised as both, fine and coarse, and along with the variable width, the project has a high statistical nugget effect whereby low-grade drill-hole intercepts can often be located within known high-grade structures which increases uncertainty in modelling. Multiple samples from the same location or re-assaying of duplicate samples can produce highly variable results. Hence drilling alone cannot generally provide statistical and geometric information required to define a long term and detailed mine plan. As a result ABM applies a risk managed staged approach to development at Old Pirate whereby capital expenditure is deployed sequentially and each stage of development informs the next stage. The first stage was trial mining completed in early 2014. ABM is now developing the second stage. These stages are based on mineral resource estimates (rather than reserves) with regular revisions to near-term mine planning modelling (refer releases 30/9/2014).
To view photograph and figures, please visit:
http://media.abnnewswire.net/media/en/docs/ASX-ABU-723699.pdf
About ABM Resources NL
ABM Resources (ASX:ABU) is developing several gold discoveries in the Central Desert region of the Northern Territory of Australia. The Company has a multi-tiered approach to exploration and development with a combination of high-grade production scenarios such as the Old Pirate High-Grade Gold Project, large scale discoveries such as Buccaneer, and regional exploration discoveries such as the Hyperion Gold Project. In addition, ABM is committed to regional exploration programs throughout its extensive holdings including the alliance with Independence Group NL at the regional Lake Mackay Project.
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