TSX-listed Los Andes Copper said on Thursday that testwork had confirmed that its Vizcachitas project, in Chile, would produce a high-grade clean copper concentrate with no market penalties.
The results for copper recoveries and concentrate grades, as part of the ongoing prefeasibility study (PFS), confirmed a recovery of 91.4% with a final concentrate grade of 24.5% copper over the first 12 years of the mine plan, the company said.
“These results are encouraging and give us confidence as we continue to progress the development of the project, focusing on delivering a sustainable mining project, including a reduction in both its water and energy consumption,” said Los Andes executive chairperson Fernando Porcile.
“I am very pleased that the recent comprehensive testwork has confirmed that Vizcachitas will produce a clean and high-quality copper concentrate. This testwork validates the flotation performance when the operating parameters are applied to the more complex areas of the mine.”
The 2019 preliminary economic assessment assumed an overall life-of-mine copper recovery of 91.0%. The PFS testwork results confirmed these assumptions on the metallurgical performance with samples representing the most challenging mineralogy identified within the mine plan.
The testwork focused on rougher and cleaner flotation stages, including different reagent formulas, open-cycle testing with different regrinding sizes and pulp pH, as well as complete locked-cycle testing to produce the final copper concentrate.