James Bay Minerals (JBY) has announced the commencement of metallurgical testing on the high-grade skarn mineralisation at its Independence Gold Project in Nevada, USA. This program is crucial for determining the optimal processing route to maximize gold recovery from the skarn resource, which boasts 984,412 ounces of gold at 6.67g/t. The company will assess historical core samples located at the site for metallurgical optimisation testing.
Previous metallurgical work focused on heap leach amenability of near-surface epithermal mineralisation, yielding poor recoveries for transitional and sulphide materials like the skarn. JBY aims to rectify this by conducting specific testwork on near-surface sulphide ore. This is intended to identify the most effective processing method.
The Independence Project’s skarn resource is hosted in the same Battle Formation as the adjacent Fortitude Mine, which historically produced 2.3Moz of gold at 6.68g/t with 90% recoveries. JBY believes there is significant potential to optimise recoveries through conventional processing methods such as flotation or pressure oxidation (POX).
Matthew Hayes, Executive Director of James Bay Minerals, stated that the program is a key step in clarifying the recovery potential of the high-grade skarn resource. He emphasized that previous testwork focused solely on near-surface oxide material and that this program will address the gap in understanding gold recovery for sulphide or transition material.
Historical metallurgical test work on near-surface mineralisation showed gold recovery in oxides of 81-84%, while the bottle roll gold recovery varied from 34% to 94%, averaged at 74%. The current program will include column leach tests on representative material of different oxidation states to assess the impact of sulphide content on cyanide soluble gold. JBY will engage external metallurgical consultants to select and prepare drill core for testing and will provide further updates on the program’s progress.
