3 October 2013
THOR MINING PLC
ORE SORTING PROOF OF CONCEPT
COST SAVINGS POTENTIAL FOR MOLYHIL TUNGSTEN PROJECT NT
The Directors of Thor Mining PLC ("Thor") (AIM, ASX: THR) are pleased to announce positive results from follow-up ore sorting test work on ore from the Molyhil tungsten project in Australia's Northern Territory.
Ore sorting is a low cost pre-concentration process which upgrades ore prior to the more expensive fine crushing and grinding of the ore processing circuit. The coarse material, generally in this instance of a size fraction between 20mm & 50mm, is scanned and segregated according to criteria developed by test work. After sorting, mineralised material, containing the bulk of the tungsten and molybdenum, progresses through the rest of the circuit, while non-mineralised material is discarded as waste.
This pre-concentrating process has the potential to reduce downstream processing costs, consisting of fine crushing, grinding, flotation, and gravity separation. The process is not suitable for all styles of mineralisation; however it is applied successfully in tungsten processing elsewhere.
Three samples totalling 41.3Kgs of ore from Molyhil were separately processed using X-Ray detection in a number of passes through a sorting machine by Applied Sorting Technologies in Melbourne. The results were broadly consistent, and have been combined in the summary reported below.
Proportion of ore concentrated |
% Wo3 Recovery |
% Mo Recovery |
40.6% - 42.4% |
90.4 - 92.4 |
73.7 - 75.6 |
62.7% - 64.2% |
97.0 - 98.0 |
92.3 - 94.5 |
83.2% - 85.7% |
99.0 - 99.6 |
98.0 - 98.0 |
Fines generated in the crushing process would automatically flow through to the rest of the grinding / flotation / gravity processes, so the reduction in total feed to the processes is likely to be slightly less than in the table above, however the tungsten & molybdenum losses from rejecting these fines will also be eliminated.
Commenting, Mr Mick Billing, Executive Chairman of Thor Mining, said: "These results are a significant boost for the development of Molyhil. At the mid-range of these results we would process less than 65% of the ore sorted while losing between 2% & 3% of the tungsten. While there still remains some work to do in estimating the total implementation costs, the reduction in plant capacity and throughput brought about by ore sorting generates a reduction in operating costs which, with a number of other savings we have identified, has the potential to deliver significant benefits for the project."
Enquiries:
Mick Billing |
+61 (8) 7324 1935 |
Thor Mining PLC |
Executive Chairman |
Allan Burchard |
+61 (8) 7324 1935 |
Thor Mining PLC |
CFO/Company Secretary |
Colin Aaronson/ David Hignell /Jamie Barklem |
+44 (0) 207 383 5100 |
Grant Thornton UK LLP |
Nominated Adviser |
Nick Emerson/ Andy Thacker |
+44 (0) 1483 413500 |
SI Capital Limited |
Broker |
Alex Walters |
+44 (0) 7771 713608 +44 (0) 207 839 9260 |
Cadogan PR |
Financial PR |
Updates on the Company's activities are regularly posted on Thor's website www.thormining.com, which includes a facility to register to receive these updates by email.
