JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Asia-focused Bluebird Merchants has commissioned a water-treatment plant at the Gubong mine, in South Korea.
The plant will ensure that water being released from the mine, which Bluebird plans to reopen, meets acceptable standards.
“As work inside the mine progresses, water entering the mine and any water used in reopening the mine will be routed through this plant,” the company said in a statement on Monday.
The company further noted that metallurgical testwork on the Gubong oxidised ore was continuing and that initial results were expected to show a recovery greater than 85%.
At Kochang, meanwhile, the mapping and sampling of all the available ore drives had been completed and the more than 400 samples had been dispatched for assay in China and Malaysia. Results were expected in the next three weeks.
Bluebird plans to reopen the Gubong and Kochang mines, which were closed decades ago when the gold price was less than $140/oz, rendering the mines uneconomic.