Antares pours first gold from Lady Lina mine

The first gold from the Lady Lina mine of Antares Mining & Exploration (ANZ-T) has been poured.

Initially, Antares plans to mill ore from each of Lady Lina’s orebodies to determine its metallurgical characteristics.

Stockpiled development ore, grading 1.56 grams gold per tonne, has already been milled; Antares treated 2,337 tonnes of this material to produce 119 oz.

gold and 12 oz. silver. Metallurgical tests are ongoing.

The mill consists of crushing, grinding, flotation and carbon-in-pulp (CIP) leaching circuits. The ball mill capacity is 200 tonnes per day, as is the flotation circuit. The CIP circuit capacity, depending on density and retention times, is between 100 and 150 tonnes per day. Upon completion of the tests, the capacity of the CIP circuit will be increased to match the mining and milling rates. Antares expects that, at 200 tonnes per day, Lady Lina should produce 10,000 oz. gold annually.

Antares plans to focus on areas of the property which have good potential to enhance Lady Lina’s reserve base at attractive grades. Exploration drilling in the known oxide areas will continue, with the intention of identifying sufficient reserves to support a profitable heap-leach operation.

The mill processing the ore from Lady Lina is owned by Antares’ joint-venture partner, the Forbes and Thompson Group, which has leased the mill for a 2-year period. Antares’ share of the mine is 43%; Forbes and Thompson’s share is 57%.