7
March 2024
First Tin
Plc
("First
Tin" or "the Company")
Taronga Gravity Circuit
Mineral Processing Update
Results of New Gravity
Circuit Testwork at ALS Laboratory Return Excellent Recoveries,
Significantly Improving on Previous Testwork
First Tin PLC, a tin development
company with advanced, low capex projects in Germany and Australia,
is pleased to announce that additional mineral processing testwork
for its Definitive Feasibility Study ("DFS") at its Taronga Tin
Project ("Taronga") in Australia, has shown enhanced recoveries
from the gravity circuit of the project.
ALS Laboratory in Burnie, Tasmania,
one of the foremost laboratories for tin processing testwork
worldwide, recently completed testwork on crushing preconcentrates
of two samples from the Taronga project:
1. A "low grade" bulk
sample, blasted from the old Newmont adit in the North zone, with a
head grade of 0.11% Sn.
2. A composite
"variability" sample of half core from throughout the deposit (both
North and South zones), constructed to be close to the average
composition and average head grade of the deposit, around 0.13%
Sn.
Results highlights:
· Gravity
circuit testwork on both the low grade bulk sample and the
variability core sample crushing pre-concentrates has
returned:
o Low
grade (0.11% Sn): 71.5% tin
recovery to a 69.8% Sn concentrate
o Variability (0.13% Sn): 72.5% tin recovery to a 60.1% Sn
concentrate
· These results are
significant improvements on the previous recoveries for the high
grade bulk sample (0.18% Sn), due to optimising the flowsheet based
on the earlier work.
·
The results confirm that
mineralisation with head grades at or below the average head grade
of 0.13% Sn, return plus 70% recovery to the coarse tin gravity
circuit.
· Inclusion of a fine
tin circuit will be examined later and this should increase the
overall recovery even further.
· Total
recovery, including losses from the crushing pre-concentration,
will be reported in the next few weeks.
Based on learning from the previous
testwork on the "high grade" sample, the
recent ALS testwork more closely followed the revised processing
flowsheet, include size classification before the spiral
circuit.
Results were excellent, with
recoveries through the gravity circuit of 71.5% tin to a 69.8% Sn
concentrate for the low grade sample and 72.5% tin to a 60.1%
concentrate for the variability sample.
These are both significant
improvements on the previous high grade sample results, which
returned a gravity circuit recovery of 66.4% tin to a 56.2% Sn
concentrate. The new recoveries are close to those obtained
by previous work conducted by Newmont and Aus Tin.
Additional work is being conducted
on dressing of the variability sample concentrate, with the aim of
increasing concentrate grade.
Both samples had previously been
upgraded by crushing and screening at 2.8mm and thus overall
recovery will be proportionately lower. End to end results
including the crushing will be reported in the next few
weeks.
It should be noted that the low
grade sample has a lower head grade (0.11% Sn) than the average
mined grade (0.13% Sn) and the variability sample has a head grade
of 0.13% Sn, close to the average for the deposit. Hence
assumptions drawn from this work may be conservative.
First Tin CEO, Bill Scotting
commented: "This work builds on and
improves the previous mineral processing testwork on the initial
bulk sample. Optimisations by our team in Australia and the ALS
Laboratory have successfully shown the deposit has a recovery of
over 70% through the gravity circuit, confirming the previous
Newmont testwork. The work also shows that gravity circuit
recoveries for mineralisation that grades below the average grade
being mined, remain above 70%, thus alleviating concerns that the
previous testwork was only conducted on samples with above average
head grade. Results for the full circuit, including crushing,
will be reported in the next few weeks, and results of that are
eagerly awaited."
The project is owned by First Tin's
100% owned Australian subsidiary, Taronga Mines Pty Ltd
("TMPL").
Enquiries:
First Tin
|
Via SEC
Newgate below
|
Bill Scotting - Chief Executive
Officer
|
|
Arlington Group Asset Management Limited (Financial Advisor
and Joint Broker)
|
|
Simon Catt
|
020 7389
5016
|
|
|
WH
Ireland Limited (Joint Broker)
|
|
Harry Ansell
|
020 7220
1670
|
|
|
SEC
Newgate (Financial Communications)
|
|
Elisabeth Cowell / Molly
Gretton
|
FirstTin@secnewgate.co.uk
|
Notes to Editors
First Tin is an ethical, reliable,
and sustainable tin production company led by a team of renowned
tin specialists. The Company is focused on becoming a tin supplier
in conflict-free, low political risk jurisdictions through the
rapid development of high value, low capex tin assets in Germany
and Australia, which have been de-risked significantly, with
extensive work undertaken to date.
Tin is a critical metal, vital in
any plan to decarbonise and electrify the world, yet Europe has
very little supply. Rising demand, together with shortages, is
expected to lead tin to experience sustained deficit markets for
the foreseeable future.
First Tin's goal is to use
best-in-class environmental standards to bring two tin mines into
production in three years, providing provenance of supply to
support the current global clean energy and technological
revolutions.