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Highlights
- Vertex Minerals has initiated wet commissioning at its Hill End Gold Plant.
- The company is sourcing feed to the plant from nearby broken rock stockpiles.
- VTX is working on expanding the plant as per Pre-Feasibility Study, for the high-grade underground Reward Gold Mine.
ASX-listed gold explorer Vertex Minerals Limited (ASX: VTX) has marked a significant milestone by starting wet commissioning at its Hill End Gold Plant gravity gold processing plant. The company is sourcing feed to the wholly owned and permitted plant from nearby broken rock stockpiles.
Commenting on the latest development, VTX Executive Chairman Roger Jackson said:
Metallurgy
The mineralogy of the gold mineralisation at Hill End is comparatively simple, says the company. Most of its gold is of high fineness and present within quartz veins having lesser sulphide content.
As per the previous bench-scale test work, gold is gravity-recoverable from Hargraves samples. Also, extremely high recoveries were made. Importantly, recoveries over 90% can be made using a low-cost gravity recovery process plant.
With the gravity separation plant present on site, recovery rates of 95% were achieved during previous periods of operation. Around 12,591 tonnes of ore at a grade of 15.9g/t was processed delivering 5,871 ounces of gold in 2009.
Crushed Stockpile material being fed into the Hill End Gold Plant.
Image source: company update
Additionally, the company continues Stage 2, plant expansion work, aligned with the Pre-Feasibility Study and designed for the high-grade underground Reward Gold Mine.
The updated Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for the Reward Gold Mine stands at 419,000 tonnes at 16.72g/t Au for 225,200oz Au.