Additional metallurgical test-work by Titan Minerals Ltd has confirmed previous ore processing outcomes with recoveries of 85-88% for gold and 70-75% for silver from the Dynasty Gold Project in southern Ecuador.
Recoveries of gold from oxide ore material which extends from surface at the Cerro Verde prospect confirm and validate historical recoveries from previous open pit mining which was trucked and processed at the Svetlana 1 Plant in 2018 and 2019.
Testing outcomes
The latest metallurgical test-work outcomes conclude:
- Strong leaching characteristics at a relatively coarse grind size (P80 of 106µm);
- Coincident silver recoveries of 70-75% from the gold leaching process;
- Rapid leaching kinetics with the majority leaching within 8 hours;
- Minimal coarse (gravity recoverable) gold was available, in line with the absence of any visible or coarse gold in core samples; and
- Low chemical consumption (0.7kg/t of NaCn), low PH buffering (lime) requirement and minimal oxygen injection.
This test-work has also identified the opportunity to improve recoveries with process optimisation.
It has demonstrated that a conventional free milling Carbon-in-Leach (CIL) circuit is considered suitable for processing Cerro Verde near-surface oxide ores.
Encouraging results
Titan’s CEO Melanie Leighton said: “It’s encouraging that this round of test-work has validated historical processing outcomes from previous mining of near-surface oxide ores at Cerro Verde.”
“Additional leach and comminution test-work is underway on transitional and primary ore domains from the Cerro Verde and Iguana prospects, where we expect to deliver an outcome proving an overall project development concept, demonstrating the amenability of conventional processing technologies for extraction of gold and silver from these domains.”
Oblique view looking north displaying Dynasty mineral resources.
Pre-development studies
As Titan Minerals continues to expand Dynasty through resource growth drilling, it has also kicked off early development studies, including a new phase of metallurgical test-work.
The company engaged expert metallurgist Ivan Hunter of Scott Dalley Franks Pty Ltd (SDF) to manage a scoping study metallurgical test-work program for the Dynasty Project. This work was overseen by Auralia Metallurgy in Perth, Western Australia.
Diagnostic metallurgical test-work on near-surface mineralisation at Cerro Vede prospect has confirmed previous ore processing outcomes.
The latest results compare well with the historical processing of Cerro Verde open pit ore through the conventional leach and Carbon in Pulp (CIP) Svetlana 1 processing plant when recoveries of 82.6–89.9% gold were achieved.
Diagnostic leaching shows 10% of the leach tails are classified as free gold, indicating that an opportunity exists to optimise and further improve recoveries.
Improvement potential
Titan said these results were highly encouraging and importantly not yet optimised, providing good potential to further improve recoveries as additional work was completed.
Cerro Verde hosts 28.8 million ounces at 2.08 g/t gold and 13 g/t silver for 1.9 million ounces of gold and 12 million ounces of silver, representing about two-thirds of the 3.1-million-ounce gold and 22-million-ounce silver mineral resource at Dynasty.
Samples were selected based on their geological domain, with the Cerro Verde oxide zone being the main study area for this test-work program.
Future evaluations will include the analysis of transitional and fresh (primary) zones and other prospect areas within the Dynasty Project.
While the results to date are very encouraging, additional test-work is recommended to further strengthen and optimise the results to scoping study level.
Resource growth focus
“We have three rigs working around the clock at the Dynasty Gold Project, with a focus on resource growth and conversion at the Cerro Verde prospect,” Leighton added.
"With strong funding in place, we’re well positioned to capitalise on the all-time high gold and silver prices, with several exciting milestones set to be delivered in 2025.”