Roger Jackson, Executive Director, NQ Minerals Plc (AQSE:NQMI) Podcast

Aug 18, 2020, 03:26 PM

New High-Grade Gold Potential at Surface at Beaconsfield

NQ Minerals Plc (AQSE:NQMI, OTCQB:NQMLF, OTCQB:NQMIY) ("NQ" or the "Company") announces that the average grade to date of 3.2 grams per tonne of gold has been returned from extensive surface stockpiles located on the Company's 100% owned Beaconsfield Gold Mine ("Beaconsfield") in Tasmania, Australia.

Whilst work is underway for the refurbishment of Beaconsfield's 350,000 tonne per year capacity gold processing plant, the NQ geology team has embarked on an exploration programme of the multiple surface stockpile sites located within the wider Beaconsfield mining lease, to identify initial ore feed for the plant for when the plant becomes operational around the end of this year.

A new and exciting development for NQ has been the discovery that excellent gold grades exist in approximately 80,000 tonnes of surveyed stockpiles in the area called the historic Wetlands area, that are due east of the Beaconsfield townsite.

To date, 105 samples taken from these stockpiles have returned an average gold grade of 3.2 grams per tonnes of gold. Sampling will continue over the entire stockpile sites, to determine the full extent of the contained gold in this area. There is potential to expand this area of interest considerably over the coming months and full tonnage and grade results will be published when this exploration work is completed.

Initial metallurgical gold recovery test work also indicates standard Carbon-in-Leach ("CIL") recoveries of between 83% - 90% can be achieved with relatively short residence times of less than 12 hours. The Beaconsfield processing plant is equipped to treat the material with its CIL circuit. The material does not require crushing or grinding due to its very fine composition.