Builds on Historical High Leach Recovery Results
Freeman Gold Corp. (CSE:FMAN) has commenced metallurgical test work on its 100% owned Lemhi Gold Project located in Idaho, USA.
The work is part of Freeman’s integrated technical programme to advance towards a production decision.
Meanwhile, a comprehensive review of the historical information and test work conducted by previous operators has been completed.
President and CEO, Will Randall, said Freeman’s metallurgical team has designed a preliminary test work programme to follow-up and enhance gold recoveries, ultimately leading to a project flowsheet for the Lemhi Project. The company is utilising samples from both historical and fresh drill core from the 2020 exploration drill programme.
“We have a very strong foundation of metallurgical test work from previous operators of the Lemhi project which indicate excellent recoveries using conventional leach technologies,” Mr Randall said.
“This body of work has saved us considerable time and money in designing a metallurgical programme that will point us toward the optimal process and recovery parameters at Lemhi. As part of our 2020 drill campaign, we completed a large diameter diamond drill hole providing us valuable material for the testing programme which will be conducted at SGS Canada.”
Mr Randall said a review of metallurgical evaluations by previous owners of Lemhi has shown that gold recoveries respond well to conventional processing techniques. Past engineering studies have also shown that Lemhi has the potential to be developed into an open pit, heap and/or tank leach operation.
Historical column leach tests to evaluate heap leach potential showed gold recovery ranged from the 70 to 90% range, with best results obtained using a crush size of 80% minus 8 mesh (2.4 mm). Additional work included bottle roll testing to simulate tank leach response that typically resulted in optimized gold recoveries in the mid-ninety percent range. The results vary based on the head grade and lithology of the samples, along with test conditions used, most notably particle size and leach retention time. In general, the historic metallurgical information shows good to excellent leach response over wide spatial areas and depth of the known gold mineralisation.
In order to advance process development at Lemhi, a 2021 preliminary metallurgical testing programme is to be conducted at SGS Canada Inc., Burnaby BC, under the direction of Frank Wright, P.Eng. This study will continue to focus on leach response, as well as investigate optional procedures, including froth flotation, primarily for deeper less oxidised material, and for establishing conceptual design and operating parameters for crushing, grinding, and leaching circuits.
