Atacama Minerals: Heap Leach Tests Produce Positive
Results
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--ATACAMA MINERALS CORP. ("the
Company") is pleased to announce that the additional reserve
exploration program and the heap leach testing being conducted at
the Aguas Blancas property in northern Chile are progressing as
planned. The testwork is being conducted in part on the Repasos
ore which is material on the property richer in iodine and lower
in sulphates than the rest of the Aguas Blancas reserves.
Preliminary results indicate an additional resource of 10.8
million tonnes grading 619 ppm iodine. This Repasos resource is
expected to sustain the Company's planned production rate of 1,000
tonnes of iodine per annum for the first few years of heap leach
operation. Thereafter, the main Aguas Blancas ore body, with
proven/probable reserves of 33 million tonnes grading 552 ppm
iodine will be processed by heap leaching or conventional milling.
In April, the Company initiated the detailed assessment of the
Repasos with a 100 trench bulk sampling program which supplemented
a previous 14 trench program conducted in 1998. This most recent
program has been conducted under the guidelines established by
Pincock, Allan and Holt (PAH) , who have been the independent
assessor of Aguas Blancas reserves to date, and are a specialist
in industrial minerals analysis.
Assay data are now in hand for 104 out of the total 114 trenches,
and the average grade of the resource in zones above a 300 ppm
iodine cut-off is as follows:
/T/
Tonnes Iodine Chloride Sulfate Nitrate Insolubles
(millions) (ppm) (%) (%S04) (%N03) (%)
10.8 619 8.38 17.60 4.80 52.69
/T/
During the trenching program , additional mineralized zones of
Repasos material were encountered beyond those expected,
therefore, the Company anticipates significant upside potential
for this resource beyond that noted above. PAH will be assessing
the current Repasos ore reserve and mine plan later in June.
Two small scale heap leach pads are currently in operation to
finalize data required for the remaining construction of process
facilities, confirmation of operating recoveries and cost
parameters. One heap leach pad is testing the Repasos material and
one pad is testing the original Aguas Blancas reserve material.
The Repasos heap leach pad, which contains a bulk sample of
approximately 1,300 tonnes is performing exceptionally well, with
measured iodine recovery of 60% after only 25 days of operation.
Repasos has low chloride and sulfphate content making it
particularly amenable to heap leaching. The second pile which
contains a similar sized bulk sample of original Aguas Blancas
reserve material is still in its early phases of leaching. Both
piles are performing in a similar manner to previous large
diameter column tests, giving confidence to the original baseline
planning for the iodine only heap leach facility. The heap leach
tests are expected to be completed sufficient to progress with
financing in July. |
