sto,Gold is the major value metal, making up about 80% of the...

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Gold is the major value metal, making up about 80% of the saleable value (from scoping study). However, it is associated with a lot of antimony and it is for this reason the ore-body is still there. Both major efforts in the past (by Anglo and the Chase group) were unable to achieve acceptable gold or antimony recoveries due to the need to separate the metals. This need existed because the antimony refiners would not pay for any gold in the concentrate. Antimony sits fairly close to mercury on the periodic table and shares some characteristics in that it forms a chemical relationship with gold that is not easy to break in a hydrometallurgical process. As a result of trying to recover the gold, a significant amount went to tails and despite their best efforts, a lot remained in concentrate and was lost (not paid for). Effective recoveries during previous attempts were estimated at between 50 and 65% (on ore that was well north of 15g/t)
The significance of the antimony is that now, the market has changed. Due to the strategic value of the metal and the laws of supply and demand (as well as Chinese desire for gold), the refiners are now paying very attractive returns for gold in concentrate (the two metals are easily separated in a pyro metallurgical process). This gives NWR a real advantage over previous operators in that it doesn’t have to go through a complex separation process and can get good returns for all gold in concentrate. Their test work suggests that 98% of antimony and 95% of gold can be recovered by a combination of gravity and flotation. This makes it a whole new game for Blue Spec – a very high grade deposit left behind due to technical challenges that have now, so simply, been overcome.