Flowsheet Development on the Island…. The Blue Coast Group’s Approach to Metallurgical Testwork & Consulting Services VIX Group Meeting, June 26 th 2013.

Flowsheet Development on the Island….

The Blue Coast Group’s Approach to Metallurgical Testwork & Consulting Services

VIX Group Meeting, June 26th 2013 Parksville, BC

Informal Agenda

› 7:00pm – Meet & Greet, Refreshments.

› 7:30pm – Introduction & Presentation by Dave Middleditch.

› 8:00pm – Tour of Mineral Processing Lab & Practical Demonstration of Flotation &

Superpanner/MAT table.

› 8:30pm – Tour of Analytical Lab (Fire Assay & Wet Chemistry).

› All times are approximate!

› Location of washrooms and fire escapes…

Prospecting to Production> The main steps… simplified..

Prospecting(10,000+)

Drilling (1,000+)

Economic Evaluation More Drilling…

More Evaluation…(100+)

FinancingConstruction & Commissioning

Production(10+)

Economic Evaluation

› What do you need for a Positive economic evaluation?

› A good Resource (sufficient drilling, accurate block model etc…)

› A workable and economic Mining Method (open pit, underground cut and fill etc…)

› A viable Process that recovers the valuable minerals into saleable products.

› Need to show a Positive Net Present Value (NPV) to the potential shareholders/investors.

› High metal prices and a favourable, mining friendly jurisdiction help but are not prerequisites

for success…

› TEAMWORK – A project needs good Geologists, Mining Engineers and Metallurgists to realise

its full potential..

› Most mining companies rely on consultants and service providers to provide the majority of

the project team members…

Who Are Blue Coast?

› A group of Metallurgists, Mineralogists, Technicians & Administrative personnel

focused on providing mining companies with the optimum mineral processing

flowsheet for their project.

› Greenfield and brownfield development projects specialising in base metals and

gold

› Also provide “Plant Support” to existing operations around the world

› Projects are located across the globe but our clients are predominantly Vancouver

or Toronto based…

The Blue Coast Group

Met Testwork

Fire Assaying

Wet Chemistry

Met Consulting

Flowsheet Development

Project ManagementPlant Support

Est. 2011

Est. 2008

~15 Employees

~4 Employees

Metallurgical Testwork> Why go to the trouble?

› Assess and Evaluate the most appropriate processing technologies – All orebodies

are unique!

› Define the metallurgical grade and recovery projections – Ever increasing

confidence required from PEA up to Detailed Engineering…

› Reduce Risk – Technological risk as well as the risk of inaccurate numbers.

› Optimise or refine existing flowsheets or operations – Sometimes projects get to

production with the “wrong” flowsheet…

› Compliance with NI-43101 Standards – Qualified Persons in high demand. 43-101

guidelines for metallurgical testwork are under review and will get tighter. Blue

Coast respected name in the issuance of 43-101 compliant metallurgy

Metallurgical Testwork> First Steps…

› Sample Selection: Spatially representative, grade representative, lithologically

representative, Master Composite(s), variability composites…

› Head Characterisation: Assays & trace element scans.

› Mineralogy: Automated mineralogy (QEMSCAN) is best for base metals. Optical/D-

SIMS best for gold for visible/refractory gold respectively.

› Best done by Geologists working with Metallurgists…

Mineralogical Analysis> QEMSCAN

› QEMSCAN = Quantitative Evaluation of Minerals by Scanning Electron Microscope

› Hundreds of thousands of particles measured in one specimen

› SEM combined with X-Ray (EDS) locates and identifies minerals to provide:

› Modal Abundance

› Mineral Liberation Data

› Association Data (what type of gangue is attached to your chalcopyrite?)

› Deportment (if mineral compositions are known – can be measured or assumed)

Mineralogical Analysis> QEMSCAN

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

EDPCuZn VAR1 EDPCuZn VAR2 EDPCuZn VAR3 EDPCuZn VAR4 EDPCuZn VAR5 EDPCuZn VAR6 EDPCuZn VAR7

Min

eral

Ab

un

dan

ce (

wt.

%)

Chalcopyrite Bornite Enargite Covellite Chalcocite Cu Textures Pyrite Sphalerite

Pyrrhotite Galena Quartz Amphiboles Feldspar Epidote Other Silicates Barite

Carbonates Kaolinite Mica Chlorite Fe Oxides Other

Mineralogical Analysis> QEMSCAN

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

EDPCuZn VAR1 EDPCuZn VAR2 EDPCuZn VAR3 EDPCuZn VAR4 EDPCuZn VAR5 EDPCuZn VAR6 EDPCuZn VAR7

Mas

s (%

Cu

)

Elemental Deportment (Mass % Cu)

Cu Textures

Chalcocite

Covellite

Bornite

Chalcopyrite

Metallurgical Testwork> Flowsheet Selection

› What flowsheet is the most appropriate?

› Experience with similar projects?

› Industry standard

› Although no two orebodies are ever the same, the optimum process will ultimately

share features and characteristics with similar orebodies.

› For example, if testing a greenfield BC copper porphyry new discovery with

straightforward mineralogy a good place to start would be the flowsheet used at

Teck’s Highland Valley Copper operation.

Metallurgical Testwork> Flowsheet Selection – Copper Porphyry

› What primary grind?, what regrind?, collector dose? Residence time? Number of

stages of cleaning? Is gold recovery important etc..?

Final Product

Recirculating Stream

Primary Grindp80 = 130 microns Regrind (mild steel)

p80 = 25 microns

Rougher

Cleaner 1

Cleaner 2

Cleaner 3

Rougher Tail

Cleaner Scav Tail

Cleaner 2 Tail

Cleaner 3 Tail

Cleaner 3 (Final) Concentrate

Cleaner 1Scavenger

Cleaner Scav Conc

Metallurgical Testwork> Flowsheet Selection – Polymetallic

› What primary grind?, what regrind?, collector dose? Zinc depressant dosage?

Ability to produce separate and saleable copper and zinc concentrates?

Primary Grindp80 = 70µm

Copper RougherFlotation

Zinc RougherFlotation

Copper Cleaner 1Flotation

Zinc Regrindp80 = 28µm

Zinc Cleaner 1Flotation

Zinc Cleaner 2Flotation

Final Zinc Concentrate

Final Tails

Final CopperConcentrate

Copper Cleaner 2Flotation

Zinc Cleaner 3Flotation

Copper Regrindp80 = TBDµm

Copper Cleaner 2Flotation (req'd

for low Cu head grades)

Metallurgical Testwork> Flowsheet Selection – Gold

› Gravity, flotation & leaching are the main process options for gold

recovery. Which one, or which combination is the most appropriate?

› GRG gold? Fine grained associated with pyrite? Refractory?

› Can a high grade gravity conc be produced?

› At what grind are we able to achieve GRG recovery?

› Can we float pyrite hosted gold into a flotation concentrate?

› When leached, is the gold recovered from concentrate? What CN

concentration is required? Is whole ore leaching more appropriate?

› If gold is refractory, other processing options can be considered –

POX, BiOX, roasting etc… Need to produce economic feeds for these

processes as they are expensive to operate.

Metallurgical Testwork> Comminution

› World’s Largest SAG Mill – Kansanshi Copper Mine, Zambia

› 40’x29’, 28MW

› 130,000 tpd throughput

› Millions of $$ CAPEX – success of the whole operation relies

on correctly sized crushing and grinding circuits.

› Need to do testwork on representative samples in order to

conduct proper circuit design.

› Variability must be considered

› Bwi, Rwi, SMC, JK Dropweight, Cwi, Ai, Macpherson Test etc…

Metallurgical Testwork> Flowsheet Selection Tools

› Batch Flotation Tests (rougher & cleaner)

› Locked Cycle Tests (flotation) inc. full element scans of concentrates (ICP).

› Bottle roll cyanidation tests (gold/silver leaching) – CIL, heap leach etc…

› E-GRG and GRG tests (gravity recovery)

› Bond Ball Work Index Testing

› Assaying – wet chemistry and fire assay done in house

› Associated sample prep – crushing, blending, sizing, bucking etc…

› Interpretation – BCR personnel have worked on 100s of projects over

many years in the lab and in plant operations.

Analytical Services> Wet Chemistry & Fire Assay

› Integrated assay laboratory geared towards metallurgical

testwork assays

› Fire Assay (gold and silver) & Wet Chemistry (base metals

and silver by AR/4A with AA finish)

› Relatively low volume but high quality

› Quick TAT – 24 hour base metals, 48 hour gold assays

› Participate in SMA round robin program (30 labs in total

participating)

› Rigorous internal QA/QC program. BCR + 3 External

Commercial Labs (SGS Lakefield, Actlabs, Florin Analytical)

Metallurgical Testwork> How much is enough?

› Tradeoff between risk mitigation & $$ spent on testing

› Is it possible to remove All process risk? Yes, but… it would be a very expensive testing

program!

› Is it possible to do met testwork cheaply? Yes, but… the potential for process risk would likely

be higher.

› Value for money is the key.

Pre- Scoping Scoping Study/PEA

Prefeasibility Study

Feasibility Study

Detailed Design &

Engineering

Reduced Risk

Metallurgical Testwork> How much is enough?

Level Sample Representivity

Sample Mass (Kg)

Mineralogy Hardness Flotation Testing

Variability Pilot Plant

Pre-Scoping Best sample available at time 10-15Kg

Yes – Basic Optical study on MC

2-3 Batch Tests

Master Comp

Scoping Study/PEA Effort made to match average resource grade & spatial representivity

50kgYes – QEMSCAN size by size on MC

Yes – Basic BWi/RWi

10+ Batch Tests + LCT

Main Zone Master Comps

Prefeasibility Study Multiple drill holes, spatial variability samples, reasonable coverage of various zones 200kg

Yes – QEMSCAN variability study & MC(s)

Yes – full circuit plus variability

50+ Batch Tests + multiple LCTs

Main Zones + Variability Comps

Feasibility Study Absolute confidence in samples required. Thorough coverage of all zones and variability 2000kg

Yes – QEMSCAN variability study & MC(s)

Yes – JK tests, JK model, power based design

100+ Batch Tests + multiple LCTs

Main Zones + Variability Comps + blend tests

Detailed Design As needed – focus on specific zones if required +10000kg

for Pilot Plant

Yes – if not completed prior

Check design – third party review

Confirmatory Not Required

Case Studies> The cost of getting it wrong…

› CASE STUDY A – Vancouver Based Junior, polymetallic project, East Africa

› Prior to BCM involvement the company contracted a Vancouver based testwork lab to perform scoping

level metallurgical testwork.

› Company needed favourable results form program in order to make “go forward” decision on the project

before relinquishing property to the government.

› Polymetallic orebody – complex metallurgy but easily workable using the correct process flowsheet.

› 2008/2009 lab testwork program (~$150k) failed to produce saleable products at economically viable

recoveries.

› Company sought second opinion on testwork program from BCM (Chris Martin) due success of similar

project in the same country.

› Testwork repeated at different met lab with conventional flowsheet.

› 2013 – Company completes positive feasibility study. NPV of $692 million

› Financing & construction expected in 2014 – Blue Coast still involved…

Case Studies> The cost of getting it wrong…

› CASE STUDY B – PGM Operation, Ontario

› Mill expansion in 2001

› SAG mill undersized by 40% - Pebble crusher had to be

installed after the fact… extra CAPEX

› Flowsheet developed proved unworkable requiring complete

change on startup

› Initial losses were ~-15% in Pt+Pd recovery

› After optimisation losses were still ~-5% recovery

Analytical Services> Proposed Geochem Fee Schedule

› Based on batches of >100 samples*

› Package 1 (Cu, Pb, Zn, Fe, Ni, Co) = $19.00 for first element +$4.50/additional

element

› Package 2 (As, Ag) = $22.50 for first element +$4.50/additional element

› Au Fire Assay (30g fusion) = $19.50/sample

› Au/Ag Fire Assay (30g fusion) = $29.50/sample

› Crushing of core (<1500g) = $7.50/sample

› Pulverising of ~200g Subsample to 75µm = $6.00/sample

› TAT = 2-3 Days for Base Metals, 3-4 Days for Gold. (Less 24 hours if prep is not

required)

› Exclusive to VIX Group Members/local prospectors and developers

› Batches <100 samples refer to metallurgical price list

Questions/Comments?

“Thank you for your attention…”