Monument reports progress on intec sulphide ore treatment test work program

Monument Mining Ltd reports that an independent confirmation metallurgical test work program has been recommended, designed and carried out by Orway Metallurgical Consultants after a review of the results from the second Intec pilot campaign. This is to ensure that the results achieved to date from all test work programs undertaken by the company at the Selinsing site will be verified by an independent certified metallurgical laboratory under required QA/QC standards and recognized controlled environment.

The results of the second pilot plant campaign completed in July have been analysed and are revealing for several reasons. Intec International Projects and DCS Technical have previously demonstrated that gold can be liberated from arsenopyrite material but not well from pyrite material. The second pilot run was able to demonstrate in the first batch that the Intec Process completely dissolved pyrite, thus liberating gold from this type of material thus making it available for recovery by conventional CIL methods, although the pilot plant campaign did not complete satisfactorily and only operated batchwise due to mechanical issues.

Generation of the flotation concentrate from Buffalo Reef representative metallurgical drill program core samples for the second pilot plant campaign showed that on average more than 80% of gold was recovered into the concentrate. The concentrate was fed to the Intec process pilot plant which, in the first batch using specific parameters, resulted in liberation of 86% of gold from the concentrate. Subsequent batches were adversely affected due to lack of aeration. Further test work is ongoing to recover the gold from the flotation tails which will be addressed in the Orway program mentioned below and is expected to potentially increase overall gold recovery.

The Orway recommended metallurgical test work program is designed, at a bench scale level, to provide an independent confirmation of the recoveries of gold from sulphide resources that is planned to be mined from Buffalo Reef, using the Intec Process technology. Capital and operating costs will be developed for the Intec Process, as well as for biological, and acid leaching process as alternatives for comparison purposes, and will be included in the study for the recovery of gold from Buffalo Reef sulphide mineralization.

ALS Metallurgy will undertake this work. The ALS Laboratory in Burnie has been set up to be able to accommodate a large range of test-work programs, specifically including the Intec Process.

The quantity of flotation concentrate generated for the second pilot plant campaign and representative of the Buffalo Reef resources will enable the above metallurgical test work program, under the control of Orway, to be conducted using the same feedstock. Subject to results, this may lead to a further pilot plant run for which there is still more than 800 kg of the same concentrate sample on hand at the Selinsing site laboratory.

Monument is encouraged by the results of metallurgical test work programs undertaken at the Selinsing site in-house laboratory to date and will announce the results of the above independent test work program when completed, expected in approximately 10 to 12 weeks.

Monument Mining is an established Canadian gold producer that owns and operates the Selinsing gold mine in Malaysia. It is advancing several exploration and development projects including the Mengapur polymetallic project, in Pahang State of Malaysia, and the Murchison gold projects comprising Burnakura, Gabanintha and Tuckanarra in the Murchison area of Western Australia.

The Damar Buffalo Reef property is contiguous to the north of the Selinsing mine property. Three prospects (North, Central and South) have been identified within a north-south structural zone extending north from the Selinsing deposit.

Mining of oxide material from the Buffalo Reef South resource began in February 2013. This material is being processed at the nearby Selinsing processing plant. See also IM, August 2016, pp66-77.