Cornish Metals Inc reported better than expected results from metallurgical testwork on drill samples from the South Crofty tin project in Pool, Redruth.
UPGRADING POTENTIAL
TOMRA Sorting GmbH completed X-Ray transmission (XRT) ore sorting and Wardell Armstrong International conducted the heavy liquid separation (HLS) preconcentration testwork.
XRT resulted in 55% mass rejection and <3% metal loss (-50mm – +15mm size fraction) and HLS saw 50% mass rejection and <5% metal loss (-15mm – +0.85mm size fraction).
The testwork used samples from the 2023 metallurgical drill programme across the five mineralised zones of No. 4 lode, No. 8 lode, Roskear B/D lodes, North Pool zone and Dolcoath South.
These represent the majority of the potential production areas in the first six years of the proposed mine life.
Cornish Metals said the results confirmed the upgrading potential of South Crofty mineralisation.
The results have also enabled work to continue on the process design optimisation to reduce the size of the mineral processing plant and materially lower capital costs, operating costs and environmental footprint.
“We expected the mineralisation at South Crofty to respond well to X-Ray transmission ore sorting, but these results exceed even our most optimistic expectations,” said chief executive officer Richard Williams.
“XRT ore sorting has proven highly effective at preconcentrating mineralisation sampled from five different zones of the South Crofty deposit.”
He added that the project’s feasibility study was also making good progress.