TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – LSE- and TSX-V-listed maritime-focused copper and gold producer Rambler Metals and Mining has reported successful results of metallurgical testing to establish the use of dense media separation (DMS) technology as a preconcentration step before milling at its Ming mine, in Newfoundland and Labrador, the company said Thursday.
The London-headquartered company reported that tests on about 2 200 t of low-grade ore averaging about 0.8% copper were successful, upgrading the material to 1 457 t averaging 1.14% copper while recovering 93.6% of the contained copper.
The results are reported to be consistent with similar testwork during 2015 and also with smaller-scale tests conducted previously by external experts including Lakefield Research.
“With the Phase II expansion into the lower footwall zone well under way, the company is now focussing its efforts on determining the economics of installing and operating a commercially sized DMS plant at the Ming mine site in order to further optimise the economics of its mining and milling complex on the Baie Verte Peninsula. DMS and shaft rehabilitation could further enhance project economics over the short and long term,” president and CEO Norman Williams explained in a statement.
Management is working towards compiling the necessary information and technical work for a full analysis during the northern hemisphere autumn of 2017.
Rambler is implementing a series of innovations at its Ming mine in order to increase production through mining the LFZ. The shaft rehabilitation is aimed at increasing production to 2 000 t/d in the longer term and the DMS results provide encouragement that pre-milling concentration of lower-grade ore is technically viable.