Antilles Gold Limited (“Antilles Gold” or the “Company”) (ASX: AAU, OTCQB: ANTMF) is pleased to advise that the metallurgical test work undertaken by BGRIMM Technology on the gold-arsenopyrite concentrate to be produced by the La Demajagua open pit mine in Cuba, has been completed.
BGRIMM, which is a leading Chinese engineering group specialising in the design and construction of roasters to oxidise refractory gold concentrate, carried out the test work over a 9 month period to demonstrate the technical viability and design parameters for a processing facility that will include a two-stage fluidised-bed roaster, an acid plant and CIL circuit to produce a gold doré, and a separate leach circuit to recover antimony from the gold-arsenopyrite concentrate before roasting.
BGRIMM’s report will be translated from Mandarin to English for inclusion in a new Scoping Study for the expanded La Demajagua project. A summary of recoveries and processing consumables has been provided in English. The attached Memorandum from JJ Metallurgical Services Inc dated 12 September 2024 describes the test work undertaken on the La Demajagua gold-arsenopyrite concentrate by BGRIMM Technology, the anticipated antimony and gold recoveries, and the estimated annual antimony production.
POTENTIAL ANNUAL ANTIMONY PRODUCTION (9 YEAR LoM) (refer Note 1 below)
BGRIMM determined a 77.9% antimony recovery from alkaline leaching of the ~53,000tpa of gold-arsenopyrite concentrate with 4.9% antimony content expected to be produced after reverse flotation of the La Demajagua ore, which would yield ~2,028tpa of contained antimony in a precipitate~2,758tpa of antimony is also expected to be contained in the ~5,900tpa of silver- gold-antimony concentrate produced by reverse flotation
Payables of 57% of the prevailing antimony price (currently ~US$26,000/t) have been offered for the combined antimony contained in a blended silver-gold-antimony concentrate delivered to a northern Chinese port.
Antimony is a critical mineral with widespread industrial and technological uses with supply constraints and growing demand. The price of antimony recently doubled after China announced future restrictions on exports of the strategic metal.
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