Tulsequah--> Not bad. Zinc is pretty fair. Don't know what the copper is really as it varies widely. Widths are definitely mineable although they vary a fair bit. Still in the bulk range. A pic would elucidate the strike and depth potential more. No excuse for not haveing pictorial representation in new these days as the investor has no idea were 4790 N 2350 E at level 12 is and why it is important. Here a pic would be worth at least 20,000 words and perhaps 5 cents on the stock price. Interestingly TC was a boring story 3 years ago. Today it is intriguing. That is what a fair cu-zn price will do for an olde mine.
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They could do a similar program on MLM in the matheson area which had good zinc grades and robust widths, (20 feet) and steady copper values, with cobalt added too in respectable amounts. (- 1.96% copper, 3.18% zinc, 0.085% cobalt and 18.17 grams silver over 7.82 metres (1,171.9- 1,179.72 metres). Hole S97-09 intersected 25.40 feet grading 5.34 percent copper, 3.24 percent zinc, 0.067 percent cobalt and 1.16 ounces silver. Hole S98-06 intersected 87.80 feet grading 2.57 percent copper, 1.68 percent zinc, 0.082 cobalt and 0.61 ounces silver.)
The last hole is 180 dollar copper, 28 dollar Cobalt, $50.40 in Zinc and $7.59 silver per short ton. Total heads on that hole is $265.99. Recovery might be 80% overall conservatively for 212 dollars a short ton mill return, assuming. Widths are not assumed to hold 88 feet, not even 7.8 metres or 25 feet, but even if they held 15 feet, bulk mining at less than 40 dollars per ton is possible.
The key management thinks is to take the concentrate and make pure metal out of it in an electrolytic process or filtration process obviating having the smelter and shipping charge backs from the third party concentrate treatment people, which can come to 20 dollars a mined ton. (Copper would recover at 15 times its grade into concentrate. You mine it at 1.8 per cent and you ship it at 27%. The ratio is 15 times and the smelter pays low buck on the copper and charges you 300 bucks a ton.)
If their plant construction cost for an electro leach facility is 5 dollars a ton and it cost 100 dollars a concentrate ton to operate, they save 9.00 a ton in copper alone or 5,000,000/year on one metal (US) not counting the higher price to be attained for the metal as a pure cathode product. Zinc and Cobalt would have separate savings and returns depending on their recovery and normal concentrate ratio etc. Normally the zinc would have a charge back of 11.53 a mine ton. Its higher concentrate grade and ratio of concentration allows the saving to be about $7.29 per mined or head ton assuming the electrolytic process cost of 105 dollars an in plant per concentrate ton. $4 million saving per year. Recovered Cobalt would be 15 million additional per year. So an extra 24 million per year can be got out of the ore per year that in the past was never possible. This assumes 1500 tons per day operation and 105 dollars per con ton costs. A point is that costs for the process are subject to research. They may be greater, or lesser, but right up to 300 dollars per ton, it still pays to do it, as the recovered metal value i.e price for the product AND the total recovery would be significantly greater than it would be dealing with a third party. Shipping costs to a smelter of the copper concentrate might be 2500 dollars per day alone.
Cobalt would probably not even be paid in a smelter sale. It was not recovered, nor mostly was the zinc in the last regime circa 1971. So project economics are totally different this time out, and so is scale.
For a yardstick we may use Magma Copper's own total electrolytic costs for copper per pound at $0.55 per copper lb from their own refinery. This translates to 294 dollars per ton of concentrate. This cost figure however in Magma's case does not reflect the sole smelter cost as it include the mining cost. This could be half the total cost depending on grade and scale. It may be reasonable to use a cost of 150 dollars per concentrate ton for smelting and refining, beyond mining and milling. This is only 45 dollars beyond our estimate for the MLM case, so we are operating in the right range of assumptions.
sec.edgar-online.com
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The Potter closed once during low copper prices in 1971 and its explo program failed in the 90's during a sudden dive in the metal price regime, but makes more sense now. It may have 2 million ton potential below the 1500 foot level of the short strike length mined-out lense, and perhaps 4 miles of strike with the new hyaloclastite host-rock geology theory. This strike was undrilled in the late 90's program before the tumble in Cu prices. That program is dieing to be restarted but few investors are interested in MLM these days. No promo at all. I looked at the rocks in whirlwind tour of the place last week, and saw sulfoxide in the mafic fragmental (hyaloclastite) volcanics 1 km from the mine which no one suspected was the copper host as late as 10 years ago. They used to call this mafic rock rhyolite. That is humorous as rhyolite is a felsic rock. No one had bothered to do any whole rock, or try to classify the rock properly, as rhyolite is a selling term to cu-zn explorers, and no one had heard of mafic hyaloclastite.
Work up on Copper Electrolysis
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"Today, refining of chalocopyrite concentrate is carried out almost exclusively using pyrometallurgical methods. However, with pyrometallurgical type refining an array of environmental and operational concerns must be addressed, including the elimination of pollutants in the sulfurous acid gas emitted during smelting at high temperatures and handling of the high-temperature melt . To overcome these demands, today attention is focusing on hydrometallurgical refining methods, and some processes have already been implemented in pilot tests or gone into operation on commercial scale.
The hydrometallurgical refining methods that presently exist are fraught with numerous disadvantages, however. 1) Production costs are higher than with pyrometallurgical refining. 2) The methods currently available must be used in tandem with existing processes. 3) The iron contained in the chalocopyrite concentrate is chemically less stable than the slag produced with pyrometallurgical refining, because it is recovered as goethite (iron hydroxide: FeOOH) or hematite (iron oxide: Fe2O3); moreover, it is generated in large quantities. 4) The recovery rate of precious metals is low."
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Possible Zinc processes
tasminerals.com.au
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"Heap leaching + solvent extraction electrowinning (SX-EW) is a highly effective method that enables hydrometallurgical processing of copper ore; however, this method is unable to process the chalocopyrite ore that makes up a large proportion of copper ore. Accordingly, today processing chalocopyrite ore is chiefly carried out by first converting it to chalocopyrite concentrate by flotation and then performing pyrometallurgical refining, or alternately by partial small-scale hydrometallurgicalrefining (see the accompanying reference material).
The hydrometallurgical copper refining process newly developed by SMM makes use of the company’s chlorine refining technology perfected for matte chlorine leach electrowinning (MCLE), a process originally developed for nickel refining that boasts many years of proven success. Application of this technology to copper refining has not only enabled processing of chalocopyrite concentrate, but also significantly improved reaction efficiency and yielded numerous advantages.
The major features of SMM’s new technology are as follows:
1.Copper leaching by chlorine
Among the hydrometallurgical refining methods revealed until now, many employ a method whereby copper is leached using sulfuric acid. With the process newly developed by SMM, chalocopyrite concentrate is leached using chlorine. With solution obtained through chlorine leaching, the copper can be handled as monovalent ions. Moreover, compared to sulfuric acid leaching in which copper is electrolytically reduced from bivalent ions, with chlorine leaching copper metal can be recovered using a small amount of energy. In addition, whereas hydrometallurgical refining of chalocopyrite concentrate employing sulfuric acid is performed in a pressurized environment, with the new method developed by SMM chlorine leaching is carried out under atmospheric pressure. The new method thus eliminates the need for pressurized reaction equipment, which is both costly and demands sophisticated maintenance skills. As a result, the new method substantially boosts cost competitiveness and greatly facilitates equipment handling.
2.Recovery of iron as metal
Instead of recovering the iron in the chalocopyrite concentrate as slag or goethite/hematite wastes, SMM’s method is the first in the world that enables recovery as metal. The metal can be sold as metal, and thereby enables higher economy in the overall process.
3.Processing of wide array of copper ores
Among the various concentrates of copper ores, the new process offers versatility for application not only with chalocopyrite concentrate, leaching of which requires highly advanced technologies, but also a wide array of copper ore concentrates.
4.Enhanced cost competitiveness
With SMM’s new process, construction of refineries to process chalocopyrite concentrate is expected to be equal to or cheaper in cost than with pyrometallurgical type refining or the other hydrometallurgical methods revealed to date. Operating costs are also equivalent or less. And as further improvements to the process are achieved going forward, overall cost competitiveness on a par with that of type refining is anticipated. Furthermore, in light of the hydrometallurgical method’s advantages over pyrometallurgical refining with respect to environmental and operational aspects, demand for the new process should heighten even further in the coming years.
5.Effective recovery of precious metals
With the hydrometallurgical chalocopyrite concentrate processing methods revealed to date, recovery of precious metals is reported to be poor. With SMM’s newly developed process, use of highly reactive and environmentally compatible agents enables highly efficient recovery of precious metals.
Today SMM is taking aggressive measures to achieve its strategic goal of joining the ranks of major nonferrous metal producers 10 years down the road. Those measures include the search for and acquisition of outstanding copper resources, enhancement of copper refining capacity, and acquisition of nickel ore sources based on technological capabilities. The newly developed hydrometallurgical refining process is an integral part of that strategy, and the company intends to actively promote its adoption in new refineries to be constructed both at home in Japan and abroad"
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