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[June 2009]
Mutiny Gold Identifies Potential Kaolin Co-product at White Well
Australian diversified resources and exploration company, Mutiny Gold Ltd has, as a result of initial test work, confirmed the potential to develop a kaolin co-product at the White Well Gold Project, located 30km east of Cue in the Tuckabianna Mineral Field in Western Australia’s Murchison Goldfields.
The initial test-work, undertaken by the company’s in-house geologists as part of their work on the gold mineralisation, has confirmed one-third of Mutiny’s White Well tenement contains host lithology suitable for kaolin deposits.
Mutiny released a robust Scoping Study in March on the White Well gold project. The mining programme calls for the extraction of over 5 million tonnes of kaolin material over three years. The gold at the White Well Project is contained in the quartz which is to be trommel separated from the kaolin.
The kaolin offers four benefits:
-- Co-product potential to extend mine life
-- Mined waste converted to income
-- Reduction of mining costs
-- Potentially increased gold productionMutiny Gold Managing Director, John Greeve, said the White Well gold project is essentially about mining kaolin material containing gold bearing quartz. The presence of kaolin presents a number of cost saving/income generating benefits to the company.
“The economics of converting waste to income with minimal additional CAPEX or OPEX costs is a significant potential gain,” Mr Greeve said. “However, in addition, should the product prove to be more than a by-product but instead a true co-product then it offers the potential to increase total gold production.
“This could occur because what is now sub economic gold mineralisation and not yet built into the resource will potentially become economic as it is removed and separated as part of a kaolin extraction operation.
“Mutiny believes that developing a kaolin co-product has the capacity to share costs, therefore significantly lowering overall gold production costs.”
Kaolin is an $4 billion (10 million tonne) measured export industry. Australia to date is a very small exporter of kaolin at approximately 200,000 tonnes per annum. Key products produced using kaolin includes paper filler, paint and ceramics. Kaolin could potentially be used as a feed material for the production of aluminium.
The kaolin at White Well is white, rich in quartz and has been derived from weathering of a medium to coarse grained granitoid containing predominantly quartz and feldspar. Importantly, tests from samples showed that whiteness is above 76% and can be improved by beneficiation. Iron and titanium contaminants are present but the analysis and mineral dressing testing indicate that these can be removed.
The removal of these components and the quartz containing gold offers the possibility of a saleable kaolin product.
“Further testing is required but it is certainly offering an exciting opportunity to the Company,” said company metallurgist, Allan Brown. “A pre-mined product already essentially processed to remove gold is compelling.”
ENDS