This laboratory test work will be followed up by testing in a mini SX pilot plant in order to optimize the process at a larger scale.
Peter Hooper, CEO of Macusani, said: “These recovery results continue to increase our level of confidence that economic uranium mining will be feasible on the company’s properties on the Macusani Plateau.
“We believe that this positive recovery data, combined with upcoming NI 43-101 resource studies on three of the Company’s properties and the completion of a Preliminary Economic Study of the Colibri II/III Property will create a strong case for pursuing uranium mining development at Macusani.”
Macusani, through its Peruvian subsidiary, Global Gold SAC, continued metallurgical investigation of the Macusani mineralized material and acid solutions obtained as a result of the acid leaching of the same uranium-bearing material.
At present metallurgical testing of the acid solutions using SX recoveries and ion exchange (IX) techniques are taking place. The main objective of the SX testing was to understand the behavior of various organic solvents for uranium extraction from the existing leaching solutions. The company has previously obtained positive results in bottle roll and column leaching tests.
These uranium-pregnant solutions used for the SX tests were grouped in solutions of high-grade (870ppm U); medium-grade (276ppm U); and low-grade (34ppm U).
Part of the objectives of the tests was to establish certain technical parameters such as: Organic/Aqueous ratio (O/A), pH, rotations per minute (rpm), agitation time, etc. The solvents used for the SX extraction were Alamine 336, Cyanex and Phosphoric Acid.
The best extraction results were obtained using Alamine 336 that produced up to 98.92% extraction of the uranium from pregnant solutions. As a result of these SX tests, the first ‘yellowcake’ concentrate was produced at Macusani on a laboratory scale.
