Thor Mining PLC (LON:THR) has successfully completed laboratory test work for the extraction of copper from several core samples from its Kapunda copper project in South Australia.
The AIM-listed miner said within two days of bottle roll leach testing, in which ore is placed in a dissolving solution to separate the copper from other parts of the ore, had resulted in up 78% copper recovery using a biodegradable amino acid glycine as the extraction agent.
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Thor’s executive chairman Mick Billing said that while the lab conditions were not a “full simulation of gield processing”, the result was “very positive” and the success of the glycine, “a very benign substance”, was an important step forward in the process.
READ: Thor Mining secures research grant for recovery process at Kapunda project
The test work is being funded by a A$2.8mln grant from the Australian government, announced in July, to research the performance of an In-Situ Recovery (ISR) process as part of an In-Situ Copper and Gold Recovery Trial at Kapunda.