Dragon Mining is pleased to announce that preliminary
metallurgical testing has been successfully completed for the
Kuusamo Gold Project in northern Finland. The encouraging
results have demonstrated that material from both the
Juomasuo and Hangaslampi deposits in Kuusamo North is
amenable to conventional comminution, followed by flotation
and gravity processes with good gold recovery.
The work, undertaken at the ALS Metallurgy facility in
Adelaide, South Australia, was completed on representative
samples from the two key deposits. The work follows on from
extensive test work undertaken in the early 1990s, when trial
mining and processing of material from Juomasuo was carried
out.
The material from the largest of the deposits, Juomasuo,
returned robust gold recoveries through the comminution,
flotation and gravity processes of over 90% producing an
intermediate gold concentrate with substantial rejection of
gangue material. Subsequent cyanide leach testing on the
Juomasuo concentrate returned over 90% gold recovery in
4 hours of leaching (overall gold recovery of 81%).
Material from Hangaslampi returned similar results through
comminution, flotation and gravity concentration with 90%
gold recovery but somewhat poorer cyanide leach recovery of
60% in 24 hours (overall gold recovery of 54%).
Follow up laboratory testing is currently underway to
optimise gold flotation and leach conditions by varying grind
size and reagent addition. Development of a flow path for the
separation of cobalt, rare earth elements and uranium, which
occur within the deposits, will be conducted in parallel with
the next round of testing.
Based on the testing completed a preliminary flow sheet has
been developed for the Kuusamo North Project that will
support capital and operating cost estimates for the
processing of the material. The preliminary flow sheet
focusses on the recovery of gold and the results will be
input into the continuing Environment Impact Assessment
process.
Managing Director, Kjell Larsson stated, "The encouraging
laboratory results achieved to date combined with strong
results from resource extension drilling have reinforced the
excellent potential of the Kuusamo Gold Project."
For and on behalf of
The information in this report that relates to Metallurgical test results has been prepared by ALS Metallurgy and has been commented on by Mr Bryn Jones who is a consultant process engineer to the Company. Mr Jones is a Fellow of the Australian institute of Mining and Metallurgy and has sufficient experience that is relevant to the metallurgical processes under consideration. Mr Jones consents to the inclusion in this report on the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.
|
distributed by
|
