Venus Metals Corporation Limited: MACA Interquip Appointed to Advance Metallurgical Test
Perth, Australia - Western Australian focused gold exploration and development company, Rox Resources Ltd. (ASX:RXL), in conjunction with its joint venture partner Venus Metals Corporation Ltd. (ASX:VMC) is pleased to announce the appointment of MACA Interquip to conduct the next round of metallurgical testwork (to feasibility level) on the Youanmi Deeps and Near Surface Resources, located within the OYG JV area (Rox 70% and Manager, VMC 30%).MACA Interquip have also been engaged to produce scoping level study design and costing for various processing plant options under consideration, with a view to recommend a process to be incorporated into the mine feasibility study.
Rox Managing Director Alex Passmore commented:
"2021 was a successful year with respect to completing scoping level metallurgical testwork on the Youanmi Underground (Deeps) Resource (ASX release 6 October 2021, and ASX release 23 December 2021) proving that the Youanmi sulphide mineralisation can achieve very high extraction rates through various methods. Mine planning has also progressed to a stage where we now understand that free milling pit feed will likely make up 60 to 70 percent of the total feed tonnes allowing larger processing plant options to be considered and reducing the percentage of sulphide material in the total feed. Our plan includes a dual-purpose plant for oxide and sulphide feed material, which is now included in the scope for processing plant design and costing."
Key understandings from 2021 Deeps Resource metallurgical testwork are presented in Figure 1 below. The testwork provides confidence that a modest portion of gold in mineralisation resides in arsenopyrite, and pyrite minerals. More detailed metallurgical testwork has commenced on various mineralisation domains.
Dual-purpose Processing Plant
Conceptual Life of Mine (LOM) mine plans have so far indicated that
- around 60% to 70% of mill feed tonnes in the LOM will be sourced from open pits which are made up of oxide material from which gold can be extracted efficiently via the standard and widely used CIL extraction process.
- the remaining 30% to 40% of mill feed tonnes in the LOM will be sourced from underground sulphide materials which can be simply extracted via use of a conventional flotation circuit producing a gold concentrate achieving Au metal extraction rates of over 91% (refer ASX announcements 6 October 2021 and 23 December 2021)
Background on Testwork Manager - MACA Interquip
MACA Interquip has over 25 years' industry experience in construction, and is part of the MACA Limited (MLD) Group. With operations spanning across Australia, and extensive recent experience in gold processing plant refurbishment and construction in WA. Founded in the mid 90's as Interquip Pty Ltd, the company has grown into a multi-disciplined mineral processing provider, and in 2016 a 60% stake was purchased by MACA Limited.
MACA Interquip offers an extensive range of services including fixed plant installation and commissioning, structural, mechanical and piping capabilitie, engineering, procurement and construction, tank builds, mining maintenance solutions, process plant upgrades, on and off-site refurbishment services, plant dismantling, relocation and installation, and recommissioning services.
Damien Krebs is leading both the metallurgical testwork studies as well as the scoping level process plant design and costing work to assess the various options. Damien has extensive experience as a study manager and metallurgist in projects with complex metallurgical development requirements, including 9 years with BHP, 2 years with Independent Metallurgical Services in WA, and more recently 12 years with Greenland Minerals and Energy Ltd.
*To view tables and figures, please visit:
https://abnnewswire.net/lnk/04B5948D
About Venus Metals Corporation Limited:
Venus Metals Corporation Ltd. (ASX:VMC) is a West Australian based Company with a focus on gold and base metals exploration. The Company aims to increase shareholder value through targeted exploration success on its projects.
The Company's major gold project is the Youanmi Gold Mine, located 500km north east of Perth. The Youanmi Gold Mine is now jointly owned by Venus Metals (30%) and Rox Resources Limited (70%) (OYG JV); Indicated and Inferred Resources of the mine is 1.7 million ounces of gold.
Exciting new discoveries at the Youanmi Gold Mine have been made at the Grace prospect in footwall granites where very high grades of free milling gold have been intersected, including 25m @34.7g/t Au from 143m (RXRC 287) and 13m @60.49 g/t from 181m (RXRC 239). The Grace Prospect may substantially add to the Youanmi Gold Mine resources.
Source:
Venus Metals Corporation Ltd.
Contact:
Matt Hogan Managing Director Venus Metals Corporation Ltd. Tel: +61 8 9321 7541