92 RESOURCES CORP. Produces High-‐grade Concentrate of 6.5% Li2O at 82% Recovery from the Pegmatites at Hidden Lake
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Trading Symbol: TSX.V: NTY OTCQB: RGDCF Frankfurt: R9G2 (WKN: A11575)
92 RESOURCES CORP.
Produces High-‐grade Concentrate of 6.5% Li2O at 82% Recovery from the Pegmatites at Hidden Lake
Vancouver, December 5, 2017 – 92 Resources Corp. (the “Company”) (TSX.V: NTY) (OTCQB: RGDCF) (FSE: R9G2) is pleased to provide an update on the metallurgical program for its wholly owned Hidden Lake Lithium Project (the “Project” or “Property”), Northwest Territories. The Property is situated within the central parts of the Yellowknife Lithium Pegmatite Belt, along Highway 4, approximately 40 km east of Yellowknife.
The Company is pleased to report that the recently completed heavy liquid separation (HLS) and bench scale flotation test work has returned very encouraging results, with a high-‐grade spodumene(1) concentrate (>6% Li2O) at high overall recovery (±80-‐85%) demonstrated for the pegmatites that form the Hidden Lake Project.
The HLS test, a bench test to estimate dense media separation (DMS) performance, completed on the +0.85 mm fraction returned a concentrate grade of 6.3% Li2O with a lithium loss of only 7% to the tailings. Moreover, the HLS test exceeded expectations with a high overall recovery of 56% at a mass pull of only 12%. In commercial operation, the middlings fraction would be combined with the -‐0.85 mm fraction (collectively comprising the remaining ~37% of the lithium in this case) and processed by flotation for additional lithium recovery. See flowsheet illustration below.
Although sufficient middlings were not available for flotation test work with that fraction, the Company is pleased to report that several flotations tests completed on the whole rock material returned high grade concentrates of 6.2% to 6.5% Li2O at high overall recovery – 82% to 85%. These tests indicate that the combined middlings/-‐0.85 mm fraction will respond well to flotation, and that a high overall recovery with a combined concentrate grade above 6% Li2O is achievable using a DMS-‐flotation flowsheet.
Company President and CEO Adrian Lamoureux comments, “The metallurgical program has advanced significantly further than we had initially anticipated at this stage. We have now demonstrated the spodumene has low iron, is coarse grained, well liberated, and responds strongly to cost effective beneficiation techniques to produce high-‐grade concentrate at high-‐recoveries. Further, prior test work indicates lithium extractions for the concentrates at up to 97%. We look forward to completing the remaining Phase II DMS work and evaluating the next steps in flowsheet development”.
Although high-‐grade concentrates at high recovery are achievable and cost-‐effective using only flotation, a combination of dense media separation (DMS) and flotation is often the preferred approach for spodumene recovery from pegmatite for a variety of reasons – typically more cost effective to operate, easier to control, have a shorter operational start-‐up period, as well as having overall less risk. The favourable result of the recently completed HLS test work is a strong indication that DMS may be applicable to the flowsheet for the Project.
Target Flowsheet and DMS Mini-‐pilot Plant
The base flowsheet being developed for the Project is comprised of a crushing and classification circuit with the less -‐0.85 mm fraction set aside, and the +0.85 mm fraction processed by DMS. This produces three streams – concentrate, tailings, and a middlings. The middlings are then combined with the -‐0.85 mm fraction, set aside earlier, and processed by flotation, producing a second concentrate and tailings. The flotation concentrate is combined with the DMS concentrate to produce the final concentrate and overall recovery. This flowsheet is graphically presented below.
Whole Ore
Dense Media
-‐085 mm
SeparaZon
Fracdon (+0.85 mm fracdon)
Concentrate Tailings Midlings
FlotaZon
Concentrate Tailings
Final Concentrate Concentrate
Target flowsheet for the Hidden Lake Project
A mini DMS pilot plant of ~500 kg is currently underway with the objective of producing enough middling material to demonstrate the complete beneficiation flowsheet as described above. The operation is expected to produce up to 25 kg of high-‐grade (+6% Li2O) concentrate to be used for evaluation by the Company and third-‐ party groups. In addition, the deportment of the tantalum will be tracked throughout the process to determine its potential to be recovered.
Whole rock channel samples, collected from the recently completed 2017 summer field program, were used as feed material for the recent HLS and flotation tests, and will also serve as feed to the DMS mini pilot. This work is being completed as part of the Phase II beneficiation program, whereas Phase I targeted the characterization of the material. The highly encouraging results of the Phase II work to date are a direct result of the coarse-‐ grained nature of the spodumene and its favourable liberation characteristics as indicated from the Phase I work.
All test work is being completed by SGS at their facility in Lakefield, ON, and is being monitored by Dahrouge Geological Consulting Ltd.
(1) Montebrasite, a common lithium phosphate mineral, forms a minor component of the spodumene concentrate. Lithium from both spodumene and montebrasite has been demonstrated extractable at high recoveries.
NI 43-101 Disclosure
Darren L. Smith, M.Sc., P. Geol., of Dahrouge Geological Consulting Ltd., a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-‐101, supervised the preparation of the technical information in this news release.
About 92 Resources Corp.
92 Resources Corp is a modern energy solution company, focused on acquiring and advancing strategic and prospective modern energy related projects. The Company currently holds three principal assets in Canada: the Hidden Lake Lithium Property, NWT, the Corvette Lithium Property, QC, and the Golden Frac Sand Property, BC.
The Hidden Lake Lithium Property is strategically located within the heart of the Yellowknife Pegmatite District with 2016 exploration results returning 1.90% Li2O over 9 m and grab samples up to 3.3% Li2O. The Property is easily road accessible and its proximity to infrastructure provides for numerous development advantages.
The Corvette property consists of 76 claims, totalling 3,891 hectares, situated within the Guyer greenstone belt, which is also a favourable geological environment for gold occurrences. A summer 2017 due diligence site visit has returned samples of 3.48% and 7.32% lithium dioxide from spodumene-‐bearing pegmatite exposed at surface.
The Golden Frac Sand Property covers more than a 4 km length of the Mount Wilson Formation, which consists of high purity, white, quartzite and friable sandstones. It’s strategic location in western Canada and proximity to infrastructure, provides competitive access to the oil and gas markets where high-‐quality frac sand is an essentially input. The adjacent Moberly Silica Sand Mine, owned and operated by Heemskirk Canada Ltd., produces a number of high-‐purity products and as of February 2017, became subject to a takeover bid by Northern Silica Corporation valued at $42.3 million AUD.
For further information, please contact Adrian Lamoureux, President & CEO at Tel: 778-‐945-‐2950, E-‐mail: [email protected] or visit www.92resources.com.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors,
“ADRIAN LAMOUREUX”
Adrian Lamoureux, President & CEO
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.
Forward Looking Statements:
Statements included in this announcement, including statements concerning our plans, intentions and expectations, which are not historical in nature are intended to be, and are hereby identified as, “forward-‐looking statements”. Forward-‐looking statements may be identified by words including “anticipates”, “believes”, “intends”, “estimates”, “expects” and similar expressions. The Company cautions readers that forward-‐looking statements, including without limitation those relating to the Company’s future operations and business prospects, are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-‐looking statements.