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Metallurgical Testwork Demonstrates Increased Gold Recovery at Viva Gold's Tonopah Gold Project, Nevada
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / October 24, 2022 / Viva Gold Corp. (TSX-V:VAU)(OTCQB:VAUCF) ...
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[{"type":"text","content":"Metallurgical Testwork Demonstrates Increased Gold Recovery at Viva Gold's Tonopah Gold Project, NevadaVANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / October 24, 2022 / Viva Gold Corp. (TSX-V:VAU)(OTCQB:VAUCF) (the \"Company\" or \"Viva\") is pleased to announce that it has completed an initial metallurgical optimization program for its Tonopah Gold Project (\"Tonopah\"), located near Tonopah, Nevada. The work is reported in a study titled \"Tonopah Gold Project, Pulp Agglomeration, Report on Metallurgical Testwork\", dated October 2022, prepared by Kappes, Cassiday & Associates (\"KCA\"), Reno, Nevada.Pulp agglomeration/heap leach testing produced a calculated gold leach recovery of over 91% for high-grade (+ 1.0 gpt gold) composite samples; the 91% indicated recovery is significantly higher than the 71% recovery estimate utilized in the 2022 PEA Technical ReportGold recoveries on the low-grade composite sample was 68%; this recovery estimate compares well to the overall 71% heap leach recovery for the composited high- and low-grade recoveries utilized in the 2022 PEA Technical Report.James Hesketh, President and CEO, commented, \"This metallurgical program indicates the potential for substantially increased average gold recovery at Tonopah and justifies additional testwork. The pulp agglomeration process is historically proven as a modification to the conventional heap leach process used to capture gold recovery that would otherwise be lost at properties that have a substantial component of discreate high-grade mineralization in combination with lower-grade mineralization. We believe that the revenue gains from implementing this process may substantially offset any capital and operating costs associated with the process, thereby improving overall project economics. We are planning additional testwork to further validate and optimize these results.\"The pulp agglomeration process is well proven and has been utilized at mines in both the US and Mexico at sites where dual high- and low-grade populations of gold mineralization exist. This includes the Ruby Hill mine in Nevada, the Castle Mountain mine in California, and the Dolores mine in Mexico. Pulp agglomeration is a process where mined material is campaign crushed utilizing a three-stage crushing plant and placed respectively on high-grade or low-grade stockpiles. The high-grade material i...