Preliminary Platso Metallurgical Platinum Recoveries Of 95.3% Received
ValOre Metals Corp. (TSXV:VO) has received encouraging metallurgical results for two preliminary Platsol tests, and the initiation of multiple optimisation studies for the Pedra Branca Platinum Group Element (PGE) Project in northeastern Brazil.
Chairman and CEO, Jim Paterson, said the pace of success at Pedra Branca has increased dramatically in the last three months, including the achievement of PGE metallurgical recovery rates of in excess of 93% for palladium and 95% for platinum using the Platsol process.
“Together with an aggressive property-wide exploration programne, we are now focused on rapidly optimizing the conditions, procedures and processes to further maximise the upside potential of the Pedra Branca project.”
Platsol is a high temperature (>200°C) pressure leaching process designed to recover PGEs, gold and base metals. Platsol has been shown to be particularly effective with PGE ore feeds characterized by high concentrations of chromium and low concentrations of sulphide, much like Pedra Branca.
The PGEs and gold are solubilized as chloro complexes by the addition of chloride salt to the autoclave, while base metal sulphides (BMS) are oxidised to form soluble metal sulphate complexes. The precious metals can be recovered directly form the autoclave discharge slurry by carbon absorption, or by precipitation with sulphide ions. Platsol consists of standard, proven traditional technologies that are in use in mines around the world.
Metallurgical recovery results from two Platsol leach tests show recovery rates of 93.4 to 93.6% for Pd and 95.3 to 95.7% for Pt. Samples tested were collected from outcrops at two of the five NI 43-101 defined 2PGE+Au deposits areas, namely Trapia (219,000oz at 1.19 g 2PGE+Au/t) and Curiu (100,000oz at 1.93 g 2PGE+Au/t).
The Pedra Branca PGE Project comprises 38 exploration licenses covering a total area of 38,940 hectares (96,223 acres) in northeastern Brazil. At Pedra Branca, 5 distinct PGE+Au deposit areas host, in aggregate, a NI 43-101 Inferred Resource of 1,067,000 ounces 2PGE+ Au contained in 27.2 million tonnes grading 1.22 g/t 2PGE+Au (see ValOre’s July 23, 2019 news release). PGE mineralisation outcrops at surface and all of the currently known inferred resources are potentially open pittable.
Comprehensive exploration programmes have demonstrated the “District Scale” potential of ValOre’s Angilak Property in Nunavut Territory, Canada that hosts the Lac 50 Trend having a NI 43‐101 Inferred Resource of 2,831,000 tonnes grading 0.69% U3O8, totalling 43.3 million pounds U3O8. For disclosure related to the inferred resource for the Lac 50 Trend uranium deposits, please refer to ValOre’s news release of March 1, 2013.
