- Saturn Metals (STN) reports “excellent” metallurgical results at its Apollo Hill gold project WA’s goldfields
- Additional scaled-up metallurgical test work was conducted via low-cost leach tests, confirming the amenability of the resource to bulk tonnage gold for mining and mineral processing
- A strong recovery of 79 per cent was found in one column composite at the deposit’s lower grade range of 0.33g/t gold
- Saturn will use the results to justify the continual testing of gold and results will be used to upgrade the site’s MRE
- Shares last traded at 17 cents
Saturn Metals (STN) has reported “excellent” metallurgical results from recent testwork at its Apollo Hill gold project in WA’s Goldfields.
The company conducted additional scaled-up metallurgical test work via low-cost leach tests, confirming the amenability of the resource to bulk tonnage gold for mining and mineral processing.
A strong recovery of 79 per cent was found in one column composite at the deposit’s lower grade range of 0.33 grams per tonne (g/t) gold. Meanwhile, from four Apollo Hill samples, the average recovery was an “excellent” 79.1 per cent.
The low-cost gold leaching process accounts for around 46 per cent of global gold production, with the recent results supporting Apollo joining this number.
Efficient extraction also played a role in the results, with HPGR crushing, providing strong column leach gold extraction kinetics, with around 69 per cent of ultimate extraction done in 30 days, with maximum extraction set to take around 100 days.
“The successful replication of production representative results from across the deposit’s geography and major material types is an important step for the development of Apollo Hill,” Saturn Managing Director Ian Bamborough said.
“It gives us a great deal of confidence to progress our studies towards production. The metallurgy of Apollo Hill is a great differentiator, it provides an economic head start and an opportunity to shift the magnitude of the deposit’s development.”
Saturn plans to use these results to justify the continual testing of gold at the site and results will be used to upgrade the site’s mineral resource estimate.
STN last traded at 17 cents.