Ora Gold’s (ASX:OAU) Crown Prince Prospect continues to live up...

Ora Gold’s (ASX:OAU) Crown Prince Prospect continues to live up to its regal title, with the latest metallurgical test work from the Project showing excellent gold recovery ranging from 98.2 – 99.8 per cent and gravity gold recovery’s ranging up to 90.5 per cent from gravity and cyanide leach test work.

Royal Gold

Gold sighter testwork was conducted on four composite samples taken from thee separate reverse circulation drill holes which the company believed best represented the mineralisation style found at the Crown Prince deposit.

Figure 1: Overall Cyanide Leach Results Summary from the additional cyanide concentration tests.

Samples were taken from the Prospect’s Main Zone, South Eastern Zone and Oxidised Zone and were then subjected to gravity concentration followed by cyanide leach testing, with all four samples hitting a recovery rate of 90 per cent after four hours of leeching while keeping cyanide consumption low.

Testing also showed that these high recovery rates required a relatively low concentration, with the highest cyanide consumption in all tests being 0.46 kg/t, enabling Ora to reduce tailing management and keep processing costs low.

Ora Gold’s Chief Executive Alex Passmore stated that these results “demonstrate that the Crown Prince Prospect mineralisation will perform very well in a standard CIL gold processing scenario.”

Top Marks

Additionally, the company highlighted a variance in assay data between initial lab results and metallurgical testing, notably with one sample showing a head grade of 9.95 g/t Au initially and subsequently calculated at 74.43 -74.31g/t Au by Independent Metallurgical Operations.

Ora Gold attributes this variance to the “spotty nature of the gold,” indicating that it underscores the initial underestimation of the deposit’s grade.

Consistent Success

Following an initial cyanide leaching program of 39 samples with varied grades, aimed at understanding Crown Prince’s mineralisation response to cyanide hydro-metallurgical processing, a subsequent test work program was promptly initiated.

The success of the initial program led the explorer to engage Independent Metallurgical Operations for a follow-up program. This phase focuses on establishing crucial processing parameters such as head assays, gravity concentration, cyanidation on gravity tailings, and gold amenability.

Looking Ahead

With test work now complete, all eyes at Crown Prince now turn towards the Prospect’s ongoing drilling campaign, aiming to uncover additional mineralisation and deliver an upgrade to the Prospect’s recently announced 240,000 ounces of gold at a grade of 4.1g/t Au maiden resource.

The company said that additional metallurgical and bulk testing will take place later this year.

“The company is currently drilling along strike and down dip from known mineralisation at Crown Prince to grow the resource which we announced in February 2024,” Passmore said.

“In parallel we are also committed to de-risking the project via building the understanding of the technical parameters required to appropriately evaluate a prospective production scenario.”

OAU’s Australian Stock Exchange-listed share price has risen 8.33 per cent today was trading at $0.006 (10.45am UTC+ 8 hours).