Benchmark Metals Inc. (TSX-V:BNCH, OTCQX:BNCHF) announced that test work has achieved 93% gold recovery and 65% silver recovery for its wholly-owned Lawyers gold-silver project, which is located in the historic mining region of the Golden Horseshoe in north-central British Columbia, Canada.
The advanced metallurgical laboratory test work, carried out at the Amethyst Gold Breccia (AGB) and Cliffs Creek resources, confirmed a simple preliminary design using conventional whole rock cyanide leaching and incorporating Merrill Crowe zinc precipitation to produce on-site gold and silver Dore, the miner said.
The test work builds a large data set throughout the main AGB and Cliffs Creek resource areas, in addition to composites representing potentially the first years of mining in a conceptual mine plan, it noted.
"The results demonstrate exceptional gold recovery from rocks utilizing a conventional and proven method that results in pouring gold and silver Dore bars,” Jim Greig, president and director of Benchmark said in a statement.
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He added: “Technical results and participation from miners like Yamana Gold in Benchmark Metals continues to validate the potential to become Canada's next major gold and silver mine."
Ian Harris, Benchmark's vice president of Engineering, added: "We are very encouraged by the metallurgical test results that demonstrate robust recovery on a standard conceptual mining schedule and support using a straightforward, proven, industry norm, processing flow sheet.
“The growing data set is now incorporated into our modelling and supportive of the evaluation of multiple mining scenarios for future feasibility level evaluations."
The initial metallurgical data has been incorporated into the preliminary economic assessment expected towards the end of the second quarter of 2022, Benchmark said. Following this, the current data, along with further evaluation to be undertaken will be used in the upcoming Feasibility Study.
Benchmark Metals is advancing its wholly-owned Lawyer's project, which sits in the prolific Golden Horseshoe of northern British Columbia, Canada. The project consists of three mineralized deposits that remain open for expansion, in addition to over 20 new target areas along a 20-kilometre trend.
Contact the author at jon.hopkins@proactiveinvestors.com