Thor Energy announces results at South Australia copper project
Published by Jane Bentham,
Editorial Assistant
Global Mining Review,
The directors of Thor Energy Plc have announced positive metallurgical copper recovery results, advancing Thor’s In-Situ recovery (ISR) assessment of the Alford East Copper-REE Project, South Australia.
Highlights:
- Copper recoveries of up to 72.2% using a benign environmentally friendly glycine lixiviant – GlyLeachTM. This is an excellent result for ISR-style copper recovery.
- Four mini-column leach tests (MCLT’s) were conducted to give an accurate determination of the leaching performance and the recovery of copper from drill core samples from 21AEDD005, Alford East.
- Alford East’s saline groundwater was used in column testing to replicate potential ISR conditions and provide a more accurate leaching performance. The groundwater had no significant impact on recoveries.
Nicole Galloway Warland, Managing Director of Thor Energy, commented:
“The successful completion of the hydrometallurgical mini-column tests; returning favourable copper recoveries of up to 72.2% are above the standard range of 60 – 70% for an ISR operation. These results are highly encouraging, as Thor advances the ISR assessment of the Alford East Copper-REE-Gold Project.
“As part of Thor’s commitment to sustainable exploration activities, we are pleased to be using Glyleach as a lixiviant during the ISR process. Compared to the conventional sulphuric acid that is often used, Glyleach is an economical and environmentally friendly alternative, helping Thor to develop a low-cost, low-environmental footprint ISR copper operation.
“Thor continues to work with Fleet Space Technologies to merge the Ambient Noise Tomography (ANT) 3D model with Thor’s 3D geological model. The resultant 3D model highlights low-velocity drill targets, which potentially represent higher grade copper-REE-Gold targets, associated with deep structurally controlled troughs. As part of a future drilling programme, Thor will be including additional water bores for pump testing, and push/pull test work as it continues to advance ISR assessment at Alford East towards in-ground lixiviant trials (Site Environmental Lixiviant Trials). These are currently underway at EnviroCopper’s Kapunda Project, in which Thor holds 30% equity. We look forward to updating the market with further developments.”
Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/exploration-development/13122023/thor-energy-announces-results-at-south-australia-copper-project/
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