Cartier Resources says ore sorting tests carried out by COREM and Steinert US on mineralised samples from the Chimo Mine property, in Quebec, Canada, have indicated gold grades could increase substantially with the use of the pre-concentration technology.
Gold from Chimo is present in two types of mineralised facies: i) quartz veins with coarse visible gold grains having an affinity for the gravity concentration of gold at the mill and ii) zones of silica-rich mafic rocks associated with non-refractory arsenopyrite having an affinity for the flotation of a concentrate of arsenopyrite for gold recovery at the mill.
To perform the sorting tests, rocks representative of the two mineralised facies, made up of the following six mineralogical facies, were first selected for static recognition of each of the facies by the sensors of the sorter:
- Gold-bearing quartz veins;
- Gold-bearing silica;
- High grade gold-bearing arsenopyrite;
- Medium grade gold-bearing arsenopyrite;
- Low grade gold-bearing arsenopyrite; and
- Mafic waste rock.
The detection sensors of the industrial sorter at COREM in Quebec, Canada, were the RGB camera using the optical properties of reflection, brightness and transparency to locate quartz and silica and the X-ray Transmission sensor using the volumetric property of atomic density to locate arsenopyrite. The two sensors adequately recognised the six mineralogical facies associated with the mineralisation, with dynamic calibration tests of the sorter with the moving conveyor making it possible to sort, one at a time, 2 kg samples of each of the facies, Cartier said.
The results of this first test at COREM showed the first three sorts (on a total of eight sorts) concentrated 99.1% of the gold contained in 44.4% by mass of material mass for a grade of 56.3 g/t Au, representing a percentage increase of 223% in gold content over sorter feed. The reject, representing 0.9% by mass of material, contained only 0.4 g/t Au.
The sorter was then ready to perform sorting tests on the 105.7 kg production sample, representative of the mineralised facies at an average grade of 2.16 g/t Au. This content was obtained by including 20% by mass of material with zero grade of gold, simulating dilution in the stopes. COREM’s sorting plan separated 53.9% by mass of the material in the form of a preconcentrate at an average grade of 3.68 g/t Au, representing an increase of 170% in the gold grade compared with the sorter feed. The waste disposal, separated from the mineralisation, represented 46.1% by mass of material at an average grade of 0.38 g/t Au.
Sorting tests carried out with Steinert in Kentucky using a Steinert KSS FLI XT machine with XRT, colour, laser, and induction sensors yielded comparable results.
A 80.69 kg production sample, representative of the mineralised facies at an average grade of 2.13 g/t Au, to which 20% by mass of material at zero grade of gold was added mathematically, representing the dilution in the workings, was used for testing. The new calculated diluted grade was 1.55 g/t Au.
Calculation of the results revealed that 51% by mass of the dilute grade material could be separated as a preconcentrate at an average grade of 2.72 g/t Au, representing a 175% increase in gold grade compared with the sorter feed. The waste disposal, which would be separated from the mineralisation, would represent 49% by mass of material at an average grade of 0.36 g/t Au.
Sorting tests with COREM were carried out following these tests to validate that the 20% of dilution material at zero grade of gold, mathematically added, could physically be effectively separated by the sorter, Cartier said.
The sorting tests carried out by both COREM and Steinert US were comparable, with these results providing prospects for increasing the value of the resources with ore sorting technology.
The objective of the industrial sorting of the mineralisation is to increase the grade of the preconcentrated material preceding the milling operations, which allows an increase in the recovery rate at the mill, reduces transport costs to the mill, reduces milling costs, reduces the costs of environmental restoration of mine tailings, and reduces the environmental footprint of mine tailings and, consequently, increases the social acceptability of the mining project, Cartier said.
The most recent resource estimate from Chimo included 6.6 Mt at an average grade of 3.21 g/t Au for a total of 684,000 oz of gold in the indicated category and 15.2 Mt at an average grade of 2.77 g/t Au for a total of 1.36 Moz of gold in the inferred category.