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Cost Savings For Molyhil Tungsten Project
Cost Savings For Molyhil Tungsten Project.
About this update from Thor Energy Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \nRNS Number : 5504P Thor Mining PLC 03 October 2013 \n\n3 October 2013\n \nTHOR MINING PLC\nORE SORTING PROOF OF CONCEPT \nCOST SAVINGS POTENTIAL FOR MOLYHIL TUNGSTEN PROJECT NT\nThe Directors of Thor Mining PLC (\"Thor\") (AIM, ASX: THR) are pleased to announce positive results from follow-up ore sorting test work on ore from the Molyhil tungsten project in Australia's Northern Territory.\n \nOre sorting is a low cost pre-concentration process which upgrades ore prior to the more expensive fine crushing and grinding of the ore processing circuit. The coarse material, generally in this instance of a size fraction between 20mm & 50mm, is scanned and segregated according to criteria developed by test work. After sorting, mineralised material, containing the bulk of the tungsten and molybdenum, progresses through the rest of the circuit, while non-mineralised material is discarded as waste.\n \n \nThis pre-concentrating process has the potential to reduce downstream processing costs, consisting of fine crushing, grinding, flotation, and gravity separation. The process is not suitable for all styles of mineralisation; however it is applied successfully in tungsten processing elsewhere.\n \nThree samples totalling 41.3Kgs of ore from Molyhil were separately processed using X-Ray detection in a number of passes through a sorting machine by Applied Sorting Technologies in Melbourne. The results were broadly consistent, and have been combined in the summary reported below.\n \n\n\n\n\nProportion of ore concentrated\n\n\n% Wo3\nRecovery\n\n\n% Mo\nRecovery\n\n\n\n\n40.6% - 42.4%\n\n\n90.4 - 92.4\n\n\n73.7 - 75.6\n\n\n\n\n62.7% - 64.2%\n\n\n97.0 - 98.0\n\n\n92.3 - 94.5\n\n\n\n\n83.2% - 85.7%\n\n\n99.0 - 99.6\n\n\n98.0 - 98.0\n\n\n\n\n \nFines generated in the crushing process would automatically flow through to the rest of the grinding / flotation / gravity processes, so the reduction in total feed to the processes is likely to be slightly less than in the table above, however the tungsten & molybdenum losses from rejecting these fines will also be eliminated.\nCommenting, Mr Mick Billing, Executive Chairman of Thor Mining, said: \"These results are a significant boost for the development of Molyhil. At the mid-ra...