Armada Gold, an Alberta-listed company with one of the more advanced projects in Russia, continues to nudge its tailings property toward a production decision.
Currently, the company is building a 400-tonne-per-day pilot plant capable of producing 4,000 oz. gold per year. In addition, Armada has established, through preliminary metallurgy on 160 kg. of material from the ZIF-I tailings dam, a 65-70% recovery rate.
The ZIF-I project is near Baley, a city built on a long history of gold mining in the Chita region of southeastern Siberia. The total ZIF-I reserve is 17.5 million tonnes grading 1.1 grams gold per tonne. For the most part, this reserve is based on extensive drilling on 50- and 100-metre centres. However, it is not yet considered a “hard number.”
“Once we get the assay results from recent drilling, we’ll have a firm ore reserve,” said Armada President Derek Fisher.
Metallurgical tests are being run in Australia. The 65-70% recovery rate is based on a bulk sample that was reground and put through gravity and flotation circuits.
A second tailings deposit, known as ZIF-II, holds about 25 million tonnes, with an average grade of at least 0.7 grams gold (according to mill records). Armada plans to produce a preliminary feasibility study on ZIF-I by the end of this year. This dam holds the tailings from a gold mine that operated from the 1920s to 1959.
If the ZIF-I pilot plant proves successful, Armada will scale up to full operation, producing up to 120,000 oz. gold per year. It hopes to have what Fisher calls a “bankable feasibility” in hand by mid-1995.
Armada, the operator, holds a 49% interest in the property; its Russian partners hold the remainder.
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