PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Junior Big River Gold has flagged mica as a potential by-product at its Borborema gold project, in Brazil.
The ASX-listed company is currently undertaking a definitive feasibility study (DFS) at Borborema, and as part of this process, has identified mica as a potentially significant commercial opportunity.
Big River said that mica could potentially be recovered at a low cost from the tails to provide a saleable product comprising both a high quality coarse grained phlogopite mica and a bulk concentrate.
While the DFS continues to consider a gold-only plant and operation, Big River said that both the DFS and the plant could be updated subsequently, at low cost, after results from the mica enhancement testwork and marketing analysis were received.
The DFS is targeted for completion in the fourth quarter of this year.
Borborema has a 2.43-million-ounce Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant mineral resource estimate and a 42.4-million-tonne ore reserve containing 1.61-million ounces of gold.