NPEC news release for this morning
(BSNS WIRE) Pocone Brazil Gold Production
Pocone Brazil Gold Production
Business Editors
VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 19, 1998--
Paul Baker, Mining Engineer, reports on the Pocone Gold Production
as follows:
Development Plan
The Plan that has been followed was to build a Central Processing
Plant at the Urbano Project Site which could process the concentrates
from five 1,000 ton/day satellite flotation plants located in the
Pocone vicinity.
The Central Processing Plant is complete and contains a
six-bedroom house, a well-equipped laboratory and a 600 sq. meter
workshop as well as supporting the first of the 1,000 ton per day
flotation plant. This Central Processing Plant is now 100% complete
and we are now fabricating and building the second 1,000 ton per day
satellite flotation plant.
Flotation Plants
Each flotation plant is designed to process 1,000 tons of ball
milled material per day. This material contains 0.3 to 0.5 grams per
ton of gold.
The flotation plants reduce this material to a 200:1 concentrate.
For each 1,000 tons of 0.4 grams per ton of material processed a 5.0
ton concentrate of 75.0 grams of gold per ton is produced.
Pulp with a density of 40% by volume is made by adding 75,000
liters of water per hr. to the plant feed material. Four inch diameter
by three inch diameter pulp pumps with a capacity of 2000 liters per
minute are used to inject the pulp into the column flotation units.
Since the flotation plant at the Urbano Project was completed, it
has been operated at 300 tons of ball mill material per day, one third
of its full capacity. This is the "break even" point for operating the
plant. Previously, the tailings dam area and the return water system
were not completed sufficiently to handle the full capacity of 1,000
tons of ball mill material per day (on hundred tons of pulp per hour)
on a continuous basis. The tailings dam areas and the return water
system are being upgraded to handle this full capacity volume.
Gold Production
Each flotation plant produces 300 grams per day (about ten
ounces) of gold. This gold is contained in the 5.0 ton concentrate.
Leach Plant
The gold in the concentrate is leached using a cyanide system.
The time required for leaching is twelve hours. The leach plant has a
capacity of 150,000 liters, and is capable of handling the
concentrates from five satellite flotation plants. The concentrates
from these satellite flotation plants will be transported to the
Central Processing Plant located at the Urbano Project site.
Cost break-down
Each flotation plant costs approximately $1,100 US per day to
operate at a capacity of 800 to 1,000 tons of ball mill material per
day. This cost does not include amortization of the initial plant
cost.
All required work at the Urbano Project to go to full production
will be achieved within two weeks.
Paul Baker, Operations, NP Energy Gold Project.
--30--nmb/ny ls/na
CONTACT: NP Energy Corporation, Vancouver
Paul Baker, 909/245-9498
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