North Bay Resources Inc. (OTC:NBRI) announced the completion of flooding and operational testing of flotation cells and the frothing equipment at the Bishop Gold Mill in California.
The company said that the flotation cells are used with frothing reagents to separate gold and sulphides from the host rock.
Once it has been ground into a fine powder in the jaw crusher and ball mill, ore is soaked in a hydrophobic reagent and then moved into the flotation cells where a frothing reagent is added creating bubbles.
The gold and sulphides adhere to the bubbles and rise to the top of the cells where they are scooped into a tray below and this gold concentrate is dried and refined into gold bars.
Feedstock from the mill is set to come from the company's 50/50 joint venture at the Fran Gold project, located in British Columbia.
North Bay has received assays from the Fran Gold project which confirm 0.5 troy ounce per ton material from surface and is targeting an initial 5,000 tons of material for test processing, or approximately 2,500 troy ounces of gold.
The company said metallurgical analyses are underway to determine the composition and makeup of material, including the final grind and confirmation of the efficacy of the selected frothing agent and flocculent in the flotation cell.
It added that it continues to assess gold mine acquisitions and joint ventures throughout the western United States and Canada and is committed to acquiring ounces in the ground in support of the Bishop Mill and any future expansion that may occur at the mill.