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Gold/Mining/Energy : Gold and Silver Juniors, Mid-tiers and Producers -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: E. Charters who wrote (11862)	5/23/2006 6:16:14 PM
From: loantech	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 78419

Thanks EC. MMGG does have road rail and power close or at the location. Using a new extraction method I am sure you are aware of: metalin.com Solvent Extraction Electrowinning (SXEW) is a hydrometallurgy technology used to extract metals by dissolving the metals in an acid solution. SXEW has been used to extract copper from oxide copper ore for over 30 years and accounts for about 20% of annual copper production. The Skorpion Mine located in Namibia, Africa is the first, and to date the only, mine in the world using SXEW to extract zinc from oxide zinc ore. The ore is crushed and ground, then transported to leach tanks where it is mixed with a weak sulfuric acid solution, which dissolves zinc and other soluble metals. The material is then filtered separating the solids from the metal bearing solution, the leach solution. The leach solution is mixed with an organic extraction solution, which selectively removes and concentrates zinc from the pregnant leach solution into the organic extraction solution. The spent leach solution is recycled back to the leach circuit. The organic extraction solution is then mixed with a strong sulfuric acid solution, the electrolyte solution, which removes the zinc from the organic extraction solution. The spent organic extraction solution is recycled back to the extraction circuit. The electrolyte solution is taken to electrolytic cells and the zinc reduced to SHG zinc (99.995% zinc), the refined product. Reunion Mining plc in conjunction with Tecnicas Reunidas developed solvent extraction electrowinning for the oxide zinc mineralization at the Skorpion deposit and completed a feasibility study for the deposit. Anglo American purchased Reunion Ltd. acquiring 100% of the project. Anglo performed a second feasibility study and constructed the mine, SXEW plant and electrowinning refinery, bringing the deposit to production in May of 2003. Skorpion ramped up to full production in 2004 at about 150,000 metric >>>>>> Metallurgy is finished or on the road to being finished: new.stockwatch.com <Metalline Mining Company ("Metalline") (OTCBB:MMGG) today released the results of a metallurgical test work campaign on its Sierra Mojada zinc deposit. The test work was carried out at Mintek in South Africa under the supervision of Metalline's feasibility study contractor, GTI. The report from GTI follows: Summary of Test Work Results The test work focused on demonstrating the viability of a combination of dense media separation (DMS) and flotation to successfully produce a zinc oxide concentrate from a variety of samples from the deposit. The conceptual block flow diagram below shows the key DMS and flotation steps, followed by conventional zinc refining by leach, solvent extraction and electrowinning. The ability to produce a concentrate, which can be shipped economically, is a major contributing factor to the success of the project. It allows the siting of the refinery to be optimized in respect of tax regime, power price and other capital and operating cost inputs. In addition, acid-consuming minerals such as limestone and dolomite are discarded which reduces sulphuric acid consumption in the refinery process. The test work confirmed that a zinc oxide concentrate with a zinc content of 30% can be produced at an overall concentrator zinc recovery of 75-80%. The concentrate produced responds well to atmospheric leaching with dilute sulphuric acid and refinery leach extraction efficiency is above 98%. The concentrator operating cost will be in the region of 5-8US$/t of ore treated, which is off-set by the fact that the sulphuric acid consumption in the refinery leach step is 70% less than that achievable with direct leaching of the ore. The concentrating process route will be optimized through further test work to confirm key aspects of the flowsheet and to enhance overall recovery and concentrate grade. In particular, the incorporation of cleaner and scavenger steps in the flotation circuit and the potential to recover zinc from slimes (currently considered to be discarded) provides further upside potential.> So maybe having 5 billion lbs of zinc in the ground is worth something?