Eastern Metals Ltd (ASX:EMS) is buoyed by metallurgical test-work demonstrating that high-grade zinc and lead concentrates with good metal recoveries can be expected from the Browns Reef polymetallic base metal sulphide deposit in NSW.
The tests were carried out on two composite samples from diamond drill core at the project in the Cobar Basin near Lake Cargelligo in the state’s Central West.
Marketability
Eastern Metals is confident that the separate zinc and lead concentrates should be easily marketed.
The composite samples of base metal sulphide mineralisation come from holes drilled some years ago by a previous owner of the Browns Reef polymetallic base metal project.
This testing has shown that zinc and lead recoveries to concentrates of more than 80% could be expected while flotation tests showed that concentrates with 55 to 60% metal content could be achieved for zinc and lead.
Silver mostly reports to the lead concentrate and copper predominately to the zinc concentrate.
Eastern said that the metal recoveries to concentrate and the grades of the zinc and lead concentrate were in line with the best-performing Australian base metal operations.
These concentrates should be readily saleable to smelters.
Further testing
The company plans to carry out additional metallurgical testing on samples collected from its own drilling at the recently discovered Evergreen zone at Browns Reef.
Optimism is high as typical metal grades at Evergreen are higher than the grades of the composite samples tested by the previous owner and metallurgical performance may be better due to the higher-grade mineralisation.