Dec 13 2017
Ireland Inc. provided an update on the technical program of its ongoing precious metals extraction process at the Columbus Project, located in Esmeralda County, Nevada.
Technical Program and Extraction Update
- Recent onsite laboratory extraction optimization work has simplified the leach process and successfully separated and collected precious metals from the Columbus Project sands. XRF analysis and ICP/MS analysis of the precious metals collected in the lab has indicated that this leach protocol had the potential to reach our extraction goal of 0.2 opt Au.
- This laboratory success led the technical team to begin to conduct a series (3-4 tests) of larger scale (200 - 400lbs.) tests at Ireland's pilot plant in order to demonstrate the precious metals extraction process on a larger scale.
- Smelting of a sample of the concentrates produced from the first pilot plant test of 250lbs of material, has demonstrated the successful extraction of gold within the gold grade range expected.
- In this test, the refractory coating on the gold that Ireland has been attempting to remove was removed.
- Ireland is now in the process of conducting its second large test (300 - 400lbs) to determine if the process is repeatable and that the technical team can be assured that the first test results were not anomalous.
- When the series of tests is completed (4-6 weeks) IRLD will report the numerical test results.
Financial Update
- As was reported in its Quarterly Report for the period ended September 30, 2017, Ireland currently has sufficient funds to continue with its current technical program into March 2018 without making changes to the operations program. Ireland is currently evaluating all expenses to extend its financial position as long as possible.
Readers are cautioned that the materials sampled for the tests shown above are all from a single area within the Columbus Project site, and may not be indicative of results for the rest of the North Sand Zone or the Columbus Project as a whole. Ireland believes that, because the project site is comprised of alluvial soil, mineralization deposits are wide spread throughout the Columbus Project site. Third party chain of custody protocols were not observed during current testing as Ireland personnel are assisting in sample collection and preparation. In addition, in the past, Ireland has encountered difficulties when attempting to translate extraction results achieved under laboratory conditions to the larger scale on-site pilot plant. Ireland believes that this risk is reduced because the current pilot plant was used in its most recent successful test work reported above
Source: http://irelandminerals.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/IRLD-12-12-17-Interim-Update-FINAL.pdf