White Rock Minerals (ASX:WRM) reports that it has received ‘excellent’ results with more than 98% gold recoveries from metallurgical test work at the Morning Star Gold Mine, as part of its Woods Point Gold Project in Victoria.
The results, generated by comparative gravity tabling and intensive leaching test work, have returned an average gold grade ranging between 33-52g/t Au.
Test work was commenced to extract additional gold and boost gold recoveries and production prior to the conversion of gold mineralisation into ready for sale gold doré bars.
Commenting on the results, White Rock Managing Director and CEO Matt Gill stated: “These gold recovery results are exceptional and the company is now going to progress this to assess its commercial potential for a low capital cost opportunity to increase gold recoveries from around 80% to over 95%.
“These gold recovery results are exceptional and the company is now going to progress this to assess its commercial potential for a low capital cost opportunity”
Given the low volume but very-high grade nature of the anticipated material to be fed into the existing gravity gold processing plant, any incremental improvement in gold recovery goes straight to our bottom line.
We want to squeeze as much gold out of this high-value rock as we can, safely and environmentally responsibly. A key part of the next phase will be whether to conduct this gold extraction step on-site or off-site.”
The company also notes that the Morning Star Gold Mine is currently in a commissioning phase, processing initial parcels of ‘low-grade’ material through the gold processing plant while it continues with underground development.
In addition, the return of these positive results will aid in White Rock’s continuing studies in determining which implementation steps would be required to further support the company’s overall goal of improving gold recoveries and boost revenues.
The Wood Point Gold Project is located about 120km east of Melbourne in eastern Victoria and comprises a 660km-square tenement package, including the ‘high-grade’ Rose of Denmark and Morning Star Gold Mines, with the Morning Star Gold Mine historically producing more than 800,000oz of gold at a grade of 26g/t.
The project tenements were acquired by White Rock following a merger with ASX-listed AuStar Gold (ASX:AUL) in mid-2021 and represents a strong fit into the White Rock portfolio.
With results from the preliminary test work now returned, White Rock announces that it will move forward with an increase in gold production over the next two quarters.
