- North River Resources has completed a programme of metallurgical test-work which has firmed up the flow sheet parameters for its planned new 250,000 tpa processing plant at the Namib Lead Zinc Project in Namibia.
- The work, which was undertaken by ALS Laboratories, has resolved the inconsistent performance of previous testing work included in the Definitive Feasibility Study and delivered lead concentrates at an average 62.2% Pb at a 91% recovery rate and zinc concentrates at an average 52.4% grade and 89% recovery.
- The earlier issues had been identified as resulting from the presence of the iron mineral, pyrrhotite, in the ore which had contaminated the saleable metal concentrates and resulted in poor recovery rates.
- The recent testing has demonstrated that a combination of more effective grinding and the use of more advanced reagents capable of separating pyrrhotite provides an effective, robust and consistent process flowsheet “with a wide range of mineral composition and particularly with the variable pyrite and pyrrhotite content.”
Sp Angel Conclusion: The latest metallurgical test work resolves an important mineral processing issue for the development of the Namib mine and should allow North River Resources to move forward in bringing the project to production.
