EnviroGold Global provides mid-year project update

Hellyer Tailings Reprocessing Project – 2022 progress

In August of 2020, EnviroGold Global executed a commercial agreement to undertake feasibility and metal recovery studies at the Hellyer Gold Mine tailings in Tasmania, Australia. The Hellyer tailings are comprised of refractory, polymetallic, volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) mineralised material produced as a by-product of underground mining operations at the Hellyer Gold Mine.

During its life, the Hellyer Mine produced 15 million t of ore and yielded 601 000 t of bulk concentrate, 2.7 million t of zinc (Zn) concentrate, and 728 000 t of lead (Pb) concentrate. Due to the refractory nature of the Hellyer VMS ore, initial data indicate that 95% of the gold and 67% of the silver remains unrecovered within the tailings. A historical (2020) JORC resource report indicated that the Heller Tailings contain 634 000 oz gold (Au), 22.9 million oz silver (Ag) and 419 000 t copper-lead-zinc with grades of 2.6 g/t Au, 94 g/t Ag, 2.33% Zn, 3.01% Pb and 0.19% copper (Cu) contained in 6.37 million t of measured and indicated, and 1.21 million t of inferred resources. EnviroGold Global expects further quantities of precious, critical, and strategic metals will be found within other tailings within Hellyer Gold Mine’s permitted operational area.

In 2021, following extensive technical development with Core Resources of Brisbane, Australia, the company announced the development of a proprietary flowsheet for the Hellyer tailings, with third-party data (Core Resources) indicating strong recoveries of the substantial precious metals within the Hellyer Tailings (~59% Au, ~90% Ag).

In February of 2022, the company announced the execution of a binding definitive agreement with Hellyer Gold Mines, granting EnviroGold Global the rights to reprocess the Hellyer tailings and recover the valuable metals subject to a profit-sharing agreement entitling EnviroGold Global to 50% of the pre-tax profits up to CAN$24 million per year and 65% of the pre-tax profits thereafter.

Additional significant milestones achieved for the Hellyer Project in 2022 include flowsheet optimisation programme undertaken with Core Resources that yielded substantial increases in recoveries of gold (from ~59% to ~80%) from the Hellyer Tailings, the announcement of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Sedgman as a project partner, and the commencement of substantive negotiations for Hellyer project financing. The company continues to advance the project towards commercial metal production with initial pilot-scale metal production planned for 2022.

Buchans River Tailings Reprocessing and Rehabilitation Project – 2022 progress

In September of 2021, EnviroGold Global announced the execution of definitive, binding agreements adding the Buchans River Delta Tailings Reprocessing and Rehabilitation Project to the company’s global tailings reprocessing portfolio. Five historic mines operated around the upriver town of Buchans over 56 years from 1928 through 1984, extracting barite, zinc, lead, copper, gold, and silver. These mines produced over 16 million t of ore with an average mill head grade of 14.51% Zn, 7.56% Pb, 1.33% Cu, 126 g/t Ag and 1.37 g/t Au.

For appximately 35 years (1928 to 1964), tailings from these operations were discharged directly into the Buchans River, flowing downstream and settling into the delta at Beothuk Lake, resulting in the deltaic tailings deposit. Some of these tailings are exposed without water cover, and their physical and chemical properties cause heavy metal leaching into the lake water, which is salmon habitat.

In its initial qualification of the resource at the Buchans River Delta, EnviroGold Global leveraged extensive historical and exploration data for the site, including historical production data of the mines in Buchans, the technologies in use through their operating lives (and expected recovery rates), and three assessments conducted between 1989 and 2005 by the government of Newfoundland and Labrador, Bolero Development Corporation, and Geologist John Tuach. These studies indicated there are significant amounts of base and precious metals in approximately 2 million t of tailings in the well-studied central claim. EnviroGold Global expects further exploration in unexamined claims to indicate an extension to this tonnage. Of the more than 16 million t of tailings produced over the life of the Buchans Mines, 2 million t were placed in tailings ponds, and 2 million t have been identified in the central claim, leaving ~12 million t of tailings yet to be identified.

In order to identify undiscovered tailings resource in the Delta, in 2021, EnviroGold Global completed a ground-penetrating radar study covering 8 807 294 m3. Preliminary results indicated the potential presence of additional tailings when compared to the previous studies. The data indicated potential mineralised material extending into the Jeff Wall claim, forming a ‘Western Arc’ over a 1 km strike length.

Subsequent to the geophysical survey, EnviroGold Global completed a coring program to collect the identified material from the Jeff Wall claim. During initial exploratory coring in 2Q22, the company successfully recovered material from several points within the Jeff Wall Claim, validating the coring methodology, confirming the presence of tailings, and positioning the company to commence advanced exploration of the claims following initial metal production at the company’s Hellyer Tailings Project.

Global Tailings Project Pipeline – 2022 progress

The company has advanced commercial negotiations with the owners of additional tailings project opportunities, including two major projects in North America. The company expects to announce the execution of at least one additional commercial agreement for a major tailings project in 2022.

EnviroGold Global CEO, Dr Mark Thorpe, said: “The milestones achieved to date are a reflection of the talent and capability of our world-class team and our laser focus on producing Metals Without Mining. We remain confident in our ability to establish circular-economy market leadership in the metals and mining sector as we continue to build a high value project pipeline and advance towards initial metal production at the Heller Tailings Project.”

Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/environment-sustainability/15072022/envirogold-global-provides-mid-year-project-update/