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Bell Copper Reports Big Sandy Metallurgy
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - July 21, 2022) - Bell Copper Corporation (TSXV...
About this update from Bell Copper Corporation
[{"type":"text","content":"Bell Copper Reports Big Sandy MetallurgyVancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - July 21, 2022) - Bell Copper Corporation (TSXV: BCU) (OTCQB: BCUFF) (\"Bell Copper\" or the \"Company\") reports that it has received a preliminary report of metallurgical testing of the most copper-rich interval of drillhole BS-3 at its Big Sandy project in Arizona. Big Sandy is a large, truncated porphyry copper-molybdenum target located in northwestern Arizona, approximately 30 kilometers south of the Company's analogous Perseverance Project.Drillhole BS-3 cut 200 meters from 1302 meters to 1502 meters grading 0.42 percent copper (8.4 lbsCu/st) and 2.4 grams of silver per tonne as supergene chalcocite hosted in strongly pyritic, sericitized porphyry. The hole was terminated in strongly pyritic, sericitized porphyry at an inclined depth of 2026.33 meters when the mechanical limits of the drill were reached. A composite sample of coarse assay rejects from the chalcocite-bearing (copper-bearing) interval 1302-1502 meters was shipped to SGS Canada Inc. (Lakefield site located in Ontario) [SGS] for a bank of scoping metallurgical studies. The chalcocite was tested for its amenability to recovery by both froth flotation and acid leaching. Molybdenite was tested for its amenability to concentration by froth flotation and for its content of the strategic element rhenium. The grade of the composite sample as received by SGS was 0.41% Cu, 0.005% Mo, 2.3 g/t Ag, and 4% S. The concentrations of deleterious elements As, Pb, Sb, and Zn were all less than 50 parts per million.Highlights of the test work include:Mineralogically, 75% of the copper in the sample was chalcocite, while another 15% was bornite, and the remainder was comprised of other sulfide copper minerals. Oxide copper minerals were negligible.Pyrite accounted for approximately 8% of the sample. Quartz at 52% and muscovite at 34% were the dominant non-sulphide species. Carbonate minerals constituted 0.1% of the sample.A conventional froth flotation approach was found to be successful at recovering and concentrating the value minerals. Batch test copper recovery of 82-84% into a concentrate grade of 25% Cu was achieved. At a bulk cleaner concentrate grade of 25% Cu, silver grade was approximately 130 g/t while recovery was approximately 68%. Silver appeared to track with copper. Low moly...