Tartana Minerals Limited (ASX: TAT) (the Company), is pleased to advise that it has commissioned AED drilling to complete a 300m diamond core PQ hole to provide bulk samples for both Tomra ore sorting and for standard copper flotation testwork. Drilling is scheduled to commence this week and will take approximately two weeks to complete.
Highlights:
AED commissioned to drill a PQ diamond hole for metallurgical samplingDrill path is sited below TRC098 which previously intersected 77 m @ 0.62% Cu with the hole also improving geological interpretation and resource integrityMetallurical testwork will focus on ore sorting testwork where initial samples returned a 100% increase in grade and retained 76% of the metal contentCopper flotation testwork will also be conducted to verify earlier reports which indicated high recoveries to a copper concentratePositive results from the testwork will support the development of the Tartana open pit copper resource which currently stands at 45,000 t of contained copper and remains open at depth
“It is great news that we have been able to secure a rig to complete this important hole in a time when there is a high demand for drilling across the industry.
“The results of the testwork will contribute to the mine plan for the Tartana open pit and the Company is investigating options for treating the primary ore. Oxide and transition ore can be treated by the existing heap leach – solvent extraction crystallisaion plant which is current producing copper sulphate pentahydrate and which is sold through our offtake partner, Kanins International.’”
Tartana Primary Copper Project Background
The Company submitted copper mineralised samples in 2022 to Tomra for ore sorting testwork given that the primary copper mineralisation in the Tartana open pit appears restricted to stockwork and bedding plane veins in a host rock of benign arkosic sandstone. As expected, the preliminary testwork was positive and indicated a potential 100% increase in copper grade using the Tomra X-ray transmission sorter and adding back the finer material after crushing to 30 mm. The contained copper recovery was 76% of the overall samples.
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