MING Copper and Gold Phase 1- operational.....££££10 Dec 2020 21:38
Phase One: High grade, low tonnage start up "Describing what we are doing right now"
Phase 1 of the operation is focused on copper; producing around 630 metric tonnes a day of ore with an average head grade of 4% Copper Equivalent (Cu.Eq), it's a high-grade low tonnage start up. The ore from the 1807 zone is being mined and blended with ore from the Lower Footwall Zone.
The processing of ore from the lower footwall zone is essentially a pilot test that will provide invaluable information when future engineering and economic evaluations are conducted on the lower footwall zone.
The recently installed copper flotation circuit was installed with a name-plate design capacity of 1,000 mtpd. In addition with a small capital investment in equipment at the mine it to has the ability to produce at 1,000 mtpd thereby matching the mill. To date the historical crushing and grinding circuit appears to be the bottleneck. The Company is investigating the possibility of installing a new crushing and grinding circuit at Nugget Pond; which would allow an expansion of the Phase 1 plan. In addition the installation of such a new crushing and grinding circuit would allow both the gold hydromet and copper concentrator to be run simultaneously in parallel with one another. Thus at some point in future Rambler would have the ability to produce both a copper concentrate with precious metals in the concentrate and pour a gold dore bar.
The Company is also looking to maximize gold recovery beyond the 65% seen to date through the copper concentrator by re-proceesing the tailings before discharge to the tailings pond by sending them through the gold hydromet. The procedure worked in the laboratory increasing the gold recovery to 85% overall.
Gold Zone (1806 Zone)
The 1806 zone is a high-grade gold zone grading over 4 g/t that lies within 50 metres to the already developed ramp and is easily accessible with little development cost. Early production from the 1806 gold zone allowed the company to generate its first revenues while finalizing the construction of its copper floatation circuit. The five month period from November 2011 to May 2012 produced 14,918 ounces of gold, grossing in excess of $25 million in revenue. During production the Nugget Pond mill surpassed gold recoveries of 91%.
The Zone has potential for future exploration and expansion during the Company's next diamond drilling campaign.