Message: La Fortuna Project Indicating Gold Recoveries in Excess of 90%
| December 2, 2008 | |
| Castle Gold Completes Phase 1 of Metallurgical Studies for La Fortuna Project Indicating Gold Recoveries in Excess of 90% and Initiates Scoping Study on Development of Deposit | |
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TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Dec. 2, 2008) - CASTLE GOLD CORPORATION (Castle Gold, the Company) (TSX VENTURE:CSG) is pleased to announce results from a series of metallurgical studies performed by SGS Mineral Services, Lakefield, Ontario on a bulk sample of material extracted from underground workings at the Company's 100% owned La Fortuna gold-silver-copper project located in northwestern Durango State, Mexico. On November 12, 2008, the Company announced a NI 43-101 compliant Measured and Indicated Resource at the La Fortuna property consisting of 4.8 million tonnes grading 1.99 grams per tonne gold for a total of 308,000 ounces of contained gold The objective of this metallurgical work was to determine the extent to which gold could be recovered according to a range of basic processing techniques. From this work an evaluation of process alternatives and process flowsheets for the extraction of gold at the La Fortuna project can be conducted. Testwork included: 1. chemical analysis of the material; 2. comminution (crushing and grinding) parameters; 3. whole ore cyanidation (both on ground and coarse material); 4. gravity concentration; 5. flotation; and 6. ore sorting. The response of the La Fortuna material to the processing techniques examined during this phase of metallurgical testing were overwhelmingly positive. It was found that gold in the ore is available as free grains and is not encapsulated in sulphide minerals. With coarse ore cyanidation (analogous to a heap leaching scenario), material crushed to minus 1/2 inch can be expected to yield recoveries of in excess of 60% of the gold. This recovery increases to 99% following grinding of the material to 75 microns. Furthermore, it is apparent that high recoveries of gold are possible through either a gravity (90% recovery) or flotation (96% recovery) concentrate that contains 10-15% of the original mass of feed material. Finally, using commercial ore sorting techniques (x-ray and microwave heating) with the ore crushed to 1/2 inch to 1 inch in size, it was possible to recover 20-25% of the original rock mass as a concentrate that contained in excess of 90% of the gold. Darren Koningen, Vice President Project Development at Castle Gold commented on the results from the metallurgical testwork stating: "I am very pleased with the results from this testwork as this work confirms, and in many cases improves upon historical testwork completed on the La Fortuna material. This material is quite exceptional as it appears amenable to most gold recovery techniques thereby permitting the consideration of a number of basic process flowsheets. The positive results from material ore sorting are particularly exciting in that it may be possible to perform a pre-concentration stage on crushed ore that would allow us to eliminate further processing costs for up to 75% of the material mined and yet still have the potential to recover up to 90% of the gold. Our plans for the next stages of project development include the application of scoping level costs to evaluate the pros and cons of each recovery method thereby allowing a prioritization of each alternative prior to the advancement of additional detailed testwork." Castle Gold intends to initiate a scoping study on the project which it hopes to have concluded in the second quarter 2009. Coincident with this work the Company is continuing to evaluate the historic data base of drill, geochemical and geophysical data in order to identify the most efficient opportunities to test extensions to the currently known mineral resources. At present the mineral resource is open in all directions and numerous additional areas of elevated gold mineralization that exist within a couple of kilometres of the La Fortuna mine workings. This metallurgical testwork program was supervised by Darren Koningen, P.Eng. A report that discusses the findings of this work will be posted on the Company's website in the near future under the heading "Technical Reports" contained within the "Projects" section on the web site. About Castle Gold Castle Gold Corporation is a growth oriented gold producer with projects focused in the America's. The Company owns a 100% interest in the El Castillo gold mine in Mexico and a 50% interest in the El Sastre gold mine in Guatemala. Castle Gold is also advancing exploration and development work at its La Fortuna gold-silver-copper project in Mexico. Total Shares Outstanding: 75.3MM Fully Diluted: 88.9MM 52-Week Trading Range: C$0.15 - $0.75 |
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