GoldQuest Mining Corp. is pleased to provide an update on the progress of the Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") for its Romero Gold/Copper Project in the Dominican Republic, which was commenced in Q4 2013.
Romero was discovered by GoldQuest in 2012, and the satellite Romero South was discovered in 2006. The company announced the maiden NI 43-101 resource estimate on Romero (including an update of the Romero South resource estimate) on 29th October 2013 - a rapid 17 months after discovery. Approximately 75% of the contained metal at Romero South is in the Indicated category, a level of confidence considered suitable to support the future evaluation of any economic viability of the deposit without significant extra drilling required.
"The PEA is progressing well on all fronts, and we are on schedule for publication in early Q2, 2014," commented Julio Espaillat, GoldQuest's CEO. "Coupled with an airborne ZTEM survey underway covering the surrounding Tireo belt, the company is expecting to generate significant newsflow in the months ahead."
The PEA is being coordinated by Micon International Limited, a Toronto based mining consulting company, who have extensive experience in mining and development studies and have approved this release. Micon have assembled a multi-disciplinary international team of experts to conduct the study including ALS Minerals Laboratories of Kamloops BC (Metallurgy), Barr Engineering of Minneapolis, USA (tailings management), Elsamex engineers from Spain (local infrastructure) and AMEC International (environmental monitoring and planning).
Mining
Micon's in-house mining team are preparing the mine plan and scheduling. The technique proposed at Romero is Transverse Longhole Stoping with backfill, a bulk mining technique with direct mining costs typically of under $50 per tonne. Much of the tailings from processing will be returned underground to be used as back-fill. Work to be completed for incorporation into the PEA includes selection and sizing of equipment, final layout of the stopes and access and development of final cost estimates.
Processing
Three recent composites representing different parts of the ore bodies are being processed by ALS Minerals Laboratories of Kamloops BC to augment data received from studies on three composites sent in mid-2013.
The primary grind is currently pegged at 193 microns, a very coarse grind, requiring low power inputs. The preliminary process development results has indicted that for the main composite representing the indicated resources at Romero, can be processed producing two concentrates. Over 90% of the copper reports to the copper concentrate along with over 55% of the gold, and no identified deleterious elements. A further 30% of the gold reports to the gold pyrite rougher concentrate. The preliminary results indicate that the remaining tailings contain less than 0.5% of sulphur, considered low. Results from the testing of the other two composites, and finalization of the proposed flowsheet will be reported in the PEA. Upon receipt of the finalized metallurgical data, Micon will select and size equipment, and create a site layout for the processing facilities and on-site utilities.
Source: http://www.goldquestcorp.com/