Sabina Silver Announces Significantly Improved Recoveries From Hackett River Metallurgical Results
More comprehensive testing results in higher recoveries for silver, zinc, lead and gold Summer Campaign underway at Back River and Hackett River Projects
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, Aug 06, 2009 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX News Network) --
Sabina Silver Corporation (TSX VENTURE: SBB) announced today the results of the updated metallurgical report on Hackett River (the "Report"), completed by AMEC Americas Ltd. as part of the pre-feasibility work for the project. The Report extends the metallurgical knowledge from the preliminary economic assessment ("PEA") completed by Wardrop in 2007.
Hackett River is one of the largest undeveloped Volcanic Massive Sulphide ("VMS") camps of its type in the world and exhibits many geological similarities to the long producing prolific VMS camps such as Flin Flon and Noranda. After the release of a positive PEA on the Hackett River project in March of 2007, Sabina Silver engaged AMEC Americas Ltd. ("AMEC") to conduct a Pre-feasibility Study ("PFS") on the project. As part of the study, a new mineral resource estimate was prepared and further metallurgical testing was undertaken.
Metallurgical Results
The metallurgical test work was performed at SGS Lakefield Research Limited (SGS) under the direction of AMEC and included work on mineralogy, grindability studies, and floatation process development.
Samples and tests recovered as part of the SGS studies differed from the PEA tests in that a better representative sample was used and tests conducted were more extensive compared to the tests conducted in the PEA. Also the metallurgical flow sheet is slightly different between the two reports.
Overall, when compared to the Wardrop PEA, recoveries are;
- Silver increased by 7% (72% to 76.8%)
- Zinc increased by 2% (89.6% to 91.7%)
- Lead increased by 21% (70.0% to 84.9%)
- Copper decreased by 7% (80.0% to 74.7%)
- Gold increased by at least 20% (50% to greater than 60%)
Although the grades indicated for copper are lower (see table below), the concentrate grade still represents a saleable product and is not expected to penalize production.
"We are very pleased with the results of the recent metallurgical work on Hackett River," said Tony Walsh, President & CEO. "The more comprehensive testing undertaken for this work has returned significantly better recoveries, particularly for silver. As with the recently released mineral resource which identified increases in grade, tonnage and open pit material, these studies continue to demonstrate the quality and robust nature of the Hackett River deposits."
The studies indicate that three concentrate steams would be generated with recoveries as outlined below: |
