Mexus Gold US announced that blast hole drilling continues on the Julio vein system at its Santa Elena mine.
Image: A gold mineral. Photo: Image by PollyDot from Pixabay.
More than 150 holes, at depths from 4 to 8 meters, have been drilled covering 240 meters in length along the 1 to 5-meter-thick quartz vein coincident with a flat- east dipping trust structure. All holes are being hand sampled and composited in groups of 5 to 6 holes for gold and silver presence in addition to grade control. Approximately 5700 tons of high-grade quartz vein material will be broken on site and hauled to the crushing and leaching site. The estimated grade for this material is in the order of 5 to 10 g/t Au and 9 to 12 g/t Ag. In addition, Mexus is testing and pilot processing material from the adjacent shear zone which is averaging 1.8 g/t Au and 7 g/t Ag.
Soaking of the heap leach pad is now underway with minimum water to calibrate PH control and solution flow requirements. Bottle roll metallurgical testing for recovery and chemical requirements is being completed as well. The necessary laboratory equipment and manpower is now organized on site to control the leaching process and to ensure optimal quality control.
“The leaching process has started and will continue on a permanent basis as fresh ore will be added to the heap leach pad. Moving forward, Mexus will increase the scale and capacity of the system to maximize returns,” added Mexus CEO Paul Thompson.
Source: Company Press Release