Wilton set to start gold dore production in W. Java soon
Saturday, August 5 2017 - 04:22 AM WIB
SGX-listed Wilton Resources Corporation Limited said that it hopes to be able to start gold dore production this month at the Ciemas gold project in Indonesia?s West Java Province.
The company said in a statement obtained on Friday that construction of a leaching pool and processing plant to produce gold dore has been completed, and first trial batch of leaching commenced in June of this year, utilizing only half of the capacity of the leaching pool.
?Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the first gold dore from this trial batch is expected to be produced during August 2017,? Wilton said in the statement.
The leaching pool is designed to treat up to 1,000 tons of oxide ore per cycle with a leaching cycle time of up to four weeks, generating approximately 3.5 kg of gold dore per cycle, depending on the ore grade and recovery rate. The processing plant includes a carbon absorption circuit and a smelter from which gold dore will be produced.
?Following this trial phase, the company will evaluate the results and seek to optimize the process and eventually increase throughput. Additional leaching pools may be constructed to increase capacity,? Wilton said.
Elsewhere, the company also said that several infrastructure facilities at the Ciemas gold project have been completed including land clearance for the mining area, processing plant area and hauling road; construction of the supporting infrastructure including laboratory, gold room, base camp, hauling road and stockpile area; and installation of the electrical power supply from the transformer station to the processing plant area. ?This infrastructure is essential for both the initial pool leaching processing plant and the subsequent flotation and leaching (carbon in leach) processing plant,? the company said.
Wilton said stripping of overburden and open cut mining of oxide ore commenced in April 2017 and remains ongoing. As at the date of this announcement, approximately 2,000 tons of mined ore has been hauled to the stockpile area ready for processing.
The company said it is finalizing the detailed engineering design for the main flotation and leaching (carbon in leach) processing plant. This more complex processing plant is additional to the pool leaching process described above and will enable the company to treat non-oxide ore as well. Discussions with potential engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors remain ongoing and are expected to be completed in the near-term.
An estimation of ore reserves is currently being finalized by the group?s independent qualified person. A qualified person?s report presenting the results of the ore reserves estimation will be announced as soon as practicable, Wilton said.
Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak