Excellent Gold Recoveries at Diba Project in Western Mali
Altus Strategies Plc announced excellent results from metallurgical testwork on oxide and sulphide samples from the Company’s 100 % owned Diba gold project (“Diba” or the “Project”) in western Mali (“Mali”). The work was undertaken to test the amenability of Diba ores to carbon-in-leach (“CIL”) and heap leach processing.
Steven Poulton, Chief Executive of Altus, commented:
“The results of the metallurgical testwork on both oxide and sulphide material from Diba are simply excellent. Heap leach amenability shows 95.8 % gold recovery at a coarse crush size. This recovery is significantly higher than the 80 % modelled in the current PEA which we reported on in July. More significantly, the testwork on fresh (sulphide) samples shows that CIL processing will likely be very effective, with 86.8 % gold recovery at attractive grind sizes.
“Diba already boasts a robust US$81M post-tax NPV for the oxide ounces alone. The significantly enhanced recoveries and addition of the sulphide resource, should add considerable economic value to the Project. We have commissioned an updated independent PEA and look forward to reporting on the results in due course.
“Aside from the existing resource area, Altus has defined seven priority prospects at Diba, none of which have ever been systematically drill tested. These prospects are all located within 7 km of the current mineral resource, which itself is only 13 km from the multi-million ounce Sadiola gold mine. Altus is currently planning a drill programme for Diba and we look forward to providing an update on this in due course.”
