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Flowsheet Development on the Island….

Flowsheet Development on the Island…. The Blue Coast Group’s Approach to Metallurgical Testwork & Consulting Services VIX Group Meeting, June 26 th 2013 Parksville, BC. Informal Agenda. 7:00pm – Meet & Greet, Refreshments. 7:30pm – Introduction & Presentation by Dave Middleditch.

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Flowsheet Development on the Island….

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  1. Flowsheet Development on the Island…. The Blue Coast Group’s Approach to Metallurgical Testwork & Consulting Services VIX Group Meeting, June 26th 2013 Parksville, BC

  2. Informal Agenda • 7:00pm – Meet & Greet, Refreshments. • 7:30pm – Introduction & Presentation by Dave Middleditch. • 8:00pm – Tour of Mineral Processing Lab & Practical Demonstration of Flotation& Superpanner/MAT table. • 8:30pm – Tour of Analytical Lab (Fire Assay & Wet Chemistry). • All times are approximate! • Location of washrooms and fire escapes…

  3. Prospecting to Production> The main steps… simplified.. Prospecting (10,000+) Economic Evaluation More Drilling… Drilling (1,000+) Construction & Commissioning Financing More Evaluation… (100+) Production (10+)

  4. Economic Evaluation • What do you need for a Positive economic evaluation? • A good Resource (sufficient drilling, accurate block model etc…) • A workable and economic Mining Method (open pit, underground cut and fill etc…) • A viable Process that recovers the valuable minerals into saleable products. • Need to show a Positive Net Present Value (NPV) to the potential shareholders/investors. • High metal prices and a favourable, mining friendly jurisdiction help but are not prerequisites for success… • TEAMWORK – A project needs good Geologists, Mining Engineers and Metallurgists to realise its full potential.. • Most mining companies rely on consultants and service providers to provide the majority of the project team members…

  5. Who Are Blue Coast? • A group of Metallurgists, Mineralogists, Technicians & Administrative personnel focused on providing mining companies with the optimum mineral processing flowsheet for their project. • Greenfield and brownfield development projects specialising in base metals and gold • Also provide “Plant Support” to existing operations around the world • Projects are located across the globe but our clients are predominantly Vancouver or Toronto based…

  6. The Blue Coast Group Est. 2011 Met Testwork Fire Assaying Wet Chemistry ~15 Employees Est. 2008 Met Consulting Flowsheet Development Project Management Plant Support ~4 Employees

  7. Metallurgical Testwork> Why go to the trouble? • Assess and Evaluate the most appropriate processing technologies – All orebodies are unique! • Define the metallurgical grade and recovery projections – Ever increasing confidence required from PEA up to Detailed Engineering… • Reduce Risk – Technological risk as well as the risk of inaccurate numbers. • Optimise or refine existing flowsheets or operations – Sometimes projects get to production with the “wrong” flowsheet… • Compliance with NI-43101 Standards – Qualified Persons in high demand. 43-101 guidelines for metallurgical testwork are under review and will get tighter. Blue Coast respected name in the issuance of 43-101 compliant metallurgy

  8. Metallurgical Testwork> First Steps… • Sample Selection: Spatially representative, grade representative, lithologically representative, Master Composite(s), variability composites… • Head Characterisation: Assays & trace element scans. • Mineralogy: Automated mineralogy (QEMSCAN) is best for base metals. Optical/D-SIMS best for gold for visible/refractory gold respectively. • Best done by Geologists working with Metallurgists…

  9. Mineralogical Analysis> QEMSCAN • QEMSCAN = Quantitative Evaluation of Minerals by Scanning Electron Microscope • Hundreds of thousands of particles measured in one specimen • SEM combined with X-Ray (EDS) locates and identifies minerals to provide: • Modal Abundance • Mineral Liberation Data • Association Data (what type of gangue is attached to your chalcopyrite?) • Deportment (if mineral compositions are known – can be measured or assumed)

  10. Mineralogical Analysis> QEMSCAN

  11. Mineralogical Analysis> QEMSCAN

  12. Metallurgical Testwork> Flowsheet Selection • What flowsheet is the most appropriate? • Experience with similar projects? • Industry standard • Although no two orebodies are ever the same, the optimum process will ultimately share features and characteristics with similar orebodies. • For example, if testing a greenfield BC copper porphyry new discovery with straightforward mineralogy a good place to start would be the flowsheet used at Teck’s Highland Valley Copper operation.

  13. Metallurgical Testwork> Flowsheet Selection – Copper Porphyry • What primary grind?, what regrind?, collector dose? Residence time? Number of stages of cleaning? Is gold recovery important etc..?

  14. Metallurgical Testwork> Flowsheet Selection – Polymetallic • What primary grind?, what regrind?, collector dose? Zinc depressant dosage? Ability to produce separate and saleable copper and zinc concentrates?

  15. Metallurgical Testwork> Flowsheet Selection – Gold • Gravity, flotation & leaching are the main process options for gold recovery. Which one, or which combination is the most appropriate? • GRG gold? Fine grained associated with pyrite? Refractory? • Can a high grade gravity conc be produced? • At what grind are we able to achieve GRG recovery? • Can we float pyrite hosted gold into a flotation concentrate? • When leached, is the gold recovered from concentrate? What CN concentration is required? Is whole ore leaching more appropriate? • If gold is refractory, other processing options can be considered – POX, BiOX, roasting etc… Need to produce economic feeds for these processes as they are expensive to operate.

  16. Metallurgical Testwork> Comminution • World’s Largest SAG Mill – Kansanshi Copper Mine, Zambia • 40’x29’, 28MW • 130,000 tpd throughput • Millions of $$ CAPEX – success of the whole operation relies on correctly sized crushing and grinding circuits. • Need to do testwork on representative samples in order to conduct proper circuit design. • Variability must be considered • Bwi, Rwi, SMC, JK Dropweight, Cwi, Ai, Macpherson Test etc…

  17. Metallurgical Testwork> Flowsheet Selection Tools • Batch Flotation Tests (rougher & cleaner) • Locked Cycle Tests (flotation) inc. full element scans of concentrates (ICP). • Bottle roll cyanidation tests (gold/silver leaching) – CIL, heap leach etc… • E-GRG and GRG tests (gravity recovery) • Bond Ball Work Index Testing • Assaying – wet chemistry and fire assay done in house • Associated sample prep – crushing, blending, sizing, bucking etc… • Interpretation – BCR personnel have worked on 100s of projects over many years in the lab and in plant operations.

  18. Analytical Services> Wet Chemistry & Fire Assay • Integrated assay laboratory geared towards metallurgical testwork assays • Fire Assay (gold and silver) & Wet Chemistry (base metals and silver by AR/4A with AA finish) • Relatively low volume but high quality • Quick TAT – 24 hour base metals, 48 hour gold assays • Participate in SMA round robin program (30 labs in total participating) • Rigorous internal QA/QC program. BCR + 3 External Commercial Labs (SGS Lakefield, Actlabs, Florin Analytical)

  19. Metallurgical Testwork> How much is enough? • Tradeoff between risk mitigation & $$ spent on testing • Is it possible to remove All process risk? Yes, but… it would be a very expensive testing program! • Is it possible to do met testwork cheaply? Yes, but… the potential for process risk would likely be higher. • Value for money is the key. Reduced Risk Detailed Design & Engineering Scoping Study/PEA Prefeasibility Study Feasibility Study Pre- Scoping

  20. Metallurgical Testwork> How much is enough?

  21. Case Studies> The cost of getting it wrong… • CASE STUDY A – Vancouver Based Junior, polymetallic project, East Africa • Prior to BCM involvement the company contracted a Vancouver based testwork lab to perform scoping level metallurgical testwork. • Company needed favourable results form program in order to make “go forward” decision on the project before relinquishing property to the government. • Polymetallic orebody – complex metallurgy but easily workable using the correct process flowsheet. • 2008/2009 lab testwork program (~$150k) failed to produce saleable products at economically viable recoveries. • Company sought second opinion on testwork program from BCM (Chris Martin) due success of similar project in the same country. • Testwork repeated at different met lab with conventional flowsheet. • 2013 – Company completes positive feasibility study. NPV of $692 million • Financing & construction expected in 2014 – Blue Coast still involved…

  22. Case Studies> The cost of getting it wrong… • CASE STUDY B – PGM Operation, Ontario • Mill expansion in 2001 • SAG mill undersized by 40% - Pebble crusher had to be installed after the fact… extra CAPEX • Flowsheet developed proved unworkable requiring complete change on startup • Initial losses were ~-15% in Pt+Pd recovery • After optimisation losses were still ~-5% recovery

  23. Analytical Services> Proposed Geochem Fee Schedule • Based on batches of >100 samples* • Package 1 (Cu, Pb, Zn, Fe, Ni, Co) = $19.00 for first element +$4.50/additional element • Package 2 (As, Ag) = $22.50 for first element +$4.50/additional element • Au Fire Assay (30g fusion) = $19.50/sample • Au/Ag Fire Assay (30g fusion) = $29.50/sample • Crushing of core (<1500g) = $7.50/sample • Pulverising of ~200g Subsample to 75µm = $6.00/sample • TAT = 2-3 Days for Base Metals, 3-4 Days for Gold. (Less 24 hours if prep is not required) • Exclusive to VIX Group Members/local prospectors and developers • Batches <100 samples refer to metallurgical price list

  24. Questions/Comments? “Thank you for your attention…”

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