Toronto – April 5, 2023 – PPX Mining Corp. (the “Company” or “PPX”) is pleased to announce additional metallurgical results of test work carried out by BaseMet Laboratories from Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada; confirming that significant increase in recovery of gold can be obtained by using a particular treatment process.
Past test work, as well as historic results from toll treatment plants used to process ore have shown that only 74% – 80% recovery of gold can be obtained by direct oxide ore leaching. The reason for this low recovery was suggested by recent results confirming that finer grinding reduced the gold recovery. This situation is common in ore containing naturally occurring carbon, which adsorbs gold from the leach solution when using finer grinding, favouring the liberation of carbon. This phenomenon is denominated “preg-robbing”, process in which the gold is adsorbed by the carbon, reporting directly to the tailings and lost.
Test work has been carried out using carbon in leach, where activated carbon is added to a slurry of the ground ore prior to adding cyanide, so the large particles (2 – 4 mm) of activated carbon capture the gold and silver in preference to the naturally occurring carbon. The large particles of carbon can then be separated by screening and gold and silver are recovered from the carbon by using the usual elution process. The overall process is denominated Carbon-in-Leach (CIL). A sample of 61 kg was taken from a typical breccia at the 3056 meter elevation in the mine. A table comparing direct leaching results with those from using CIL is shown below:
Data from above table shows 10.6% higher gold recoveries with CIL than with oxide leaching, while silver recoveries are slightly lower. As most of the revenue is derived from the gold, a CIL recovery profile results in a significant increase in revenue. Based on this metallurgical information, the Company is reconsidering the plant design for its Igor Project from Merrill Crowe to CIL.
John Thomas, CEO commented, “This increase in recovery is very significant, as an increase of 10% in recovery in a 7 g/t gold ore corresponds to an extra US$ 40 per ton in revenue at US$ 1,800 per ounce gold. A design throughput of 350 tons per day, assuming full capacity, results in $14,000 of extra revenue per day, or approximately US$ 5 million per year”.
About PPX Mining Corp:
PPX Mining Corp. (TSX.V: PPX.V, BVL: PPX) is a Canadian-based mining company with assets in northern Peru. Igor, the Company’s 100%-owned flagship gold and silver project, is located in the prolific Northern Peru gold belt in eastern La Libertad Department.
All scientific and technical information in this press release has been reviewed and approved by John Thomas, P. Eng., who is a qualified person under the definitions established by National Instrument 43-101.
On behalf of the Board of Directors
John Thomas
Chief Executive Officer
82 Richmond Street East
Toronto, Ontario M5C 1P1
Canada
416-361-0737
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Cautionary Statement:
This press release contains forward-looking information and forward-looking statements (collectively, “forward-looking statements”) as such terms are defined by applicable securities laws, including, but not limited to statements regarding test results, future plans or management estimates. Forward-looking statements are statements that relate to future events. In this context, forward-looking statements often address expected future business and financial performance and often contain words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “plan,” “estimate,” “expect,” and “intend,”, statements that an action or event “may,” “might,” “could,” “should,” or “will” be taken or occur, or other similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which involve factors or circumstances that are beyond the Company’s control, and the Company’s actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied in forward-looking statements due to many various factors. Such uncertainties and risks include, among others, delays in obtaining or inability to obtain any required regulatory approvals, if applicable. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, the Company cannot guarantee that the events and circumstances reflected in the forward-looking statements will be achieved or occur. The timing of events and circumstances and actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Accordingly, one should not place undue reliance on forward- looking statements. All forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of today’s date, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update or publicly revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless required by law.