Canamex Resources Corp. (CVE:CSQ)(OTCQX:CNMXF) revealed Tuesday the results of bottle roll cyanide leach tests from two holes drilled last year at its Penelas East discovery area on its Bruner gold project in Nevada, which the company calls "very encouraging".
The tests were done on composite, coarse "reject" drill cuttings from the two holes, and returned an average of 97 percent gold extraction from 21 composites on Penelas East.
The company is planning on completing further bottle roll tests to quantify the metallurgical characteristics of the gold-bearing material at the project.
"We are very encouraged by these metallurgical test results," said president and COO, Greg Hahn. "These results support the observations of consulting geologist Don White, in his report on logging of core hole B-1207C that the gold-bearing event appears to accompany last-stage fracture filling and to be the latest event at the Penelas East, post-dating at least five previous periods of silica veining or flooding."
He said this means that the gold does not appear encapsulated in silica, and that the gold extractions in bottle roll tests are "indistinguishable" from those performed on the bulk sample from the historic resource area at the site - which returned over 85 percent gold extractions in column leach tests.
The latest bottle roll tests were run to assess the cyanide solubility from two holes, which showed a wide range of grades and vertical extent of gold mineralization with two "distinctly different" rock types, the company said.
"The positive results indicate that there is no material difference in gold solubility in samples ranging from less than 200 feet below the surface, to samples from greater than 500 feet below the surface," Canamex explained in the statement, adding that there is also no difference in gold solubility between head grades from 0.34 grams per tonne (g/t) gold to 21.94 g/t.
Although the bottle roll tests were run for 96 hours, the company said that almost all of the gold was leached in 24 to 48 hours, with low cyanide consumption. Essentially all of the gold was soluble in cyanide.
Silver solubility was also found to be encouraging, with an average silver cyanide solubility of 79% at an average head grade of 6.5 g/t silver.
Though silver is not a strong driver at the Bruner project, the silver extractions bode well for the precious metal contributing to the economics of the project, even at low silver grades, Canamex said.
Earlier this month, the Vancouver-based company signed a contract to start 6,700 metres of reverse circulation drilling at its Bruner gold project, to last through June of this year. Additional drilling of "at least a similar amount" is expected during the second half of this year.
Canamex has the right to earn a 70 percent interest in the Bruner project by spending $6 million on it before May 2017, and can boost its stake by a further 5 percent by finishing a bankable feasibility study. The Canadian junior says it now has enough cash to complete the contracted drill program for the first half of this year.
The property has a historic, non NI 43-101 compliant resource near the southwest portion, which identified roughly 383,000 ounces of gold, or 15 million tons at 0.026 ounces per ton. The resource, though not compliant, was based on work completed by some heavyweights in the industry, including Miramar, Newmont, and Kennecott, meaning that Canamex has faith that the work is valid.
The junior mineral explorer recently raised $2.5 million from silver mining giant Hecla (NYSE:HL), giving Hecla a near 15% interest in Canamex - suggesting support for the Canadian company's project and plans.
In the first half of this year, drilling will begin on the west side of the Bruner property, on the northern extension of the historic resource area. The area has seen little drilling, the company has said, with a total of 16 holes from four sites planned to test the northern extension.
Separately, the company said Tuesday that Herb Duerr has resigned from the company's board of directors to pursue other business interests.
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