VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Dec. 06, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Aton Resources Inc. (TSX-V:AAN) (“Aton” or the “Company”) is pleased to provide investors with an update on the progress of metallurgical testwork currently underway on bulk composite samples from the “gold oxide cap” portion of the Hamama West deposit, located in the Company’s 100% owned Abu Marawat Concession, located in the Eastern Desert of Egypt.
Highlights:
- At the optimum crush size of 100% passing -12.5mm, average gold and silver leach recoveries of 73.6% and 39.8% were obtained from the oxide zone samples in bottle roll tests;
- At the optimum crush size of 100% passing -12.5mm, average gold and silver leach recoveries of 66.2% and 32.5% were obtained from the transitional zone samples in bottle roll tests;
- Percolation tests, a precursor to the column leach testwork program, indicated that the oxide zone material potentially requires agglomeration with cement, but that the transitional zone material does not;
- Column leach tests were started on November 27, 2017. Preliminary leach tests indicate fast initial leach kinetics for gold and silver.
Commenting on these latest results, Mark Campbell, President and CEO of Aton stated, “We are extremely pleased with the results of the metallurgical testing to date, and to be able to communicate continued positive progress with the development of our Hamama project. The preliminary results of metallurgical test work programme demonstrate that we can expect the mineralization from the Hamama West “gold oxide cap” to be amenable to processing via a heap leach route, and to be relatively straightforward to process. The positive initial results from the coarse bottle roll leach tests were used to determine the optimal test parameters for the column leach tests, which will determine the gold and silver recoveries which will ultimately be achievable. The metallurgical testwork will constitute an essential element of the study to support the declaration of commerciality at Hamama, which remains on track for completion by May of 2018.”
Metallurgical testwork programme
Metallurgical samples from the oxide and transitional zones, representing material from the Hamama West “gold oxide cap” were sent to Wardell Armstrong International (UK) to undertake scoping metallurgical testing at their Truro laboratory. Two (2) representative 120kg bulk composites, consisting of HQ or PQ sized half core drill samples, from each of the oxide and transitional zones of the Hamama West deposit, and representing material from the upper “gold oxide cap” portion of the deposit, were selected and dispatched for testing. The testwork included head assays, coarse and fine bottle roll leach tests, and percolation and agglomeration tests.
Variable parameters of crush size and cyanide concentration were tested.
Based on the results received to date, the following observations can be made:
- Gold and silver leach recoveries exhibited a dependency on crush size;
- Higher gold and silver leach recoveries are obtained at the higher cyanide strength of 1.0g/L;
- Low percolation rates for OBC-1 sample indicate that the oxide ore potentially requires agglomeration with cement, given the high proportion of fines.
Results of the coarse bottle roll leach tests carried out at the optimum determined crush size are summarized in Table 1.
| Mineralization Type |
Composite ID |
Sample ID |
Leach Time |
Size (mm) |
NaCN (g/L) |
Recovery | |
| Au (%) | Ag (%) | ||||||
| Oxide | OBC-1 | A | 10 days | -12.5 | 1.0 | 71.3 | 36.4 |
| B | 73.3 | 38.3 | |||||
| AVG | 72.3 | 37.4 | |||||
| OBC-2 | A | 1.0 | 75.1 | 42.2 | |||
| B | 74.8 | 42.3 | |||||
| AVG | 75.0 | 42.3 | |||||
| Transitional |
TBC-3 | A | 10 days
|
-12.5
|
1.0 | 66.6 | 33.3 |
| B | 68.8 | 31.7 | |||||
| AVG | 67.7 | 32.5 | |||||
| TBC-4 | A | 1.0 | 65.6 | 34.4 | |||
| B | 63.7 | 30.7 | |||||
| AVG | 64.7 | 32.6 | |||||
| Table 1 – Results of coarse bottle roll leach testing | |||||||
Optimal test conditions derived from the coarse bottle roll leach and percolation/agglomeration tests were used to set the parameters for the column leach tests, which were started on November 27, 2017 to determine ultimate gold and silver leach recoveries obtainable using heap leach technology.
About Aton Resources Inc.
Aton Resources Inc. (TSX-V:AAN) is focused on its 100% owned Abu Marawat Concession (“Abu Marawat”), located in Egypt’s Arabian-Nubian Shield, approximately 200 km north of Centamin’s Sukari gold mine. Aton has identified a 40 km long gold mineralized trend at Abu Marawat, anchored by the Hamama deposit in the west and the Abu Marawat deposit in the east, containing numerous gold exploration targets, including three historic British mines. Aton has identified several distinct geological trends within Abu Marawat, which display potential for the development of RIRG and orogenic gold mineralization, VMS precious and base metal mineralization, and epithermal-IOCG precious and base metal mineralization. Abu Marawat is over 738km2 in size and is located in an area of excellent infrastructure, a four-lane highway, a 220kV power line, and a water pipeline are in close proximity.
Qualified Person
The technical information contained in this News Release was prepared by Gary Patrick BSc, MAusIMM, CP (Met), Principal Consultant of Metallurg Pty Ltd. Mr. Patrick is a qualified person (QP) under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.
For further information regarding Aton Resources Inc., please visit us at www.atonresources.com or contact:
Mark Campbell
President and Chief Executive Officer
Tel: +1-936-689-2589
Email: [email protected]
Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Some of the statements contained in this release are forward-looking statements. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions; by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results in each case could differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements.
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