In a pilot run of its innovative “Gekko” gold processing plant, Classic Minerals has achieved an average grade of 6.06 grams per tonne gold from its first bulk sample of ore from the company’s Kat Gap gold resource that averages 2.96 g/t gold. Encouragingly, the pilot head grade was much higher than the average inferred resource grade calculated in April 2020.
The Kat Gap deposit near Southern Cross in WA hosts almost 93,000 ounces of gold in an inferred mineral resource of 975,722 tonnes and is notably the highest-grade contributor to the company’s total gold inventory of 403,906 ounces. The pilot run determined a 73.2 per cent recovery just from gravity into a mass pull of 4.6 per cent of the feed material. The end result compares well against previous bench scale metallurgical test work that produced gravity gold recoveries of 65 per cent to 75 per cent into a mass pull of 5 per cent.
Metallurgical test work also confirmed a gold recovery of 98 per cent using the company’s modular Gekko plant, followed by a grinding and leaching circuit.
The mining of the bulk sample combined with lab studies from 2020 and the Gekko pilot plant’s performance has given the company a large degree of confidence in its operation.
Classic Minerals Chairman, John Lester said: “We were aware that there was a high degree of gravity recovery from the Kat Gap ore but the 73.2% is admirable.….. I believe that the Kat Gap Plant will be in the lower cost quartile due to the beneficiation of the ore prior to gold recovery.”
Classic’s investment in a cost effective modular and mobile Gekko gold processing plant to process the ore from its flagship deposit appears to be paying off with first assays exceeding expectations. At the end of last month the company had its decision to run with a Gekko plant vindicated after its pilot plant test outperformed expectations.
The company believes the early results demonstrate the Gekko plant is perfectly suited to Kat Gap style ore and is capable of extracting high levels of gravity gold at a relatively low cost. The plant offers versatility for Classic, allowing it to optimise recovery depending on market conditions, ore competency, ore grade and gold price.
The spot price of the precious yellow metal appears to have reclaimed a little territory this month — albeit precariously — by climbing to a 30-day high of US$1726 per ounce on October 4 and returning to US$1682 today. Notably, just last month on September 26 the metal’s price bottomed out at a yearly low of US$1621, its lowest point since falling from a graceful high of US$2052 on March 8.
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By Matt Birney
