Kintavar obtains up to 59% Copper grade in concentrate and up to 80% recovery in addition to Silver and Cobalt from preliminary metallurgical study
Kintavar obtains up to 59% Copper grade in concentrate and up to 80%
recovery in addition to Silver and Cobalt from preliminary metallurgical study
MONTRÉAL, April 24, 2019 -- Kintavar Exploration Inc. (the “ Corporation” or “Kintavar”) (TSX-V: KTR) (FRANKFURT: 58V),
is pleased to announce the results of its preliminary metallurgical test work for samples from drill hole MS-18-36 in the
Sherlock area of the Mitchi project in Quebec, Canada. The objectives of this test work are to demonstrate that the Sherlock
mineralized materials are amenable to the production of high-grade copper concentrates using traditional mineral processing
techniques. Results demonstrate that a very high-quality copper concentrate of up to 59% copper, and without any deleterious
metals, can be produced, well above the global average of 25% copper1 and above the 32% copper concentrate often required
to obtain a premium on concentrates. Recoveries of up to 80% were achieved and it is believed that it should be possible to
increase the recoveries to the global average of 84%1 or above after performing additional optimization and testwork.
Test work has been completed at ALS Metallurgy in Kamloops, British Columbia and supervised by Novopro Projects, Inc.
from Montreal, Quebec, both independent of Kintavar Exploration. Test work followed industry standard methods and
procedures commonly used for the design and development of copper recovery processes, including mineralogy, Bond Work
Index testing, flotation testing and assaying of metallurgical products.
One NQ diamond drill hole was drilled in the Sherlock zone, specifically to obtain representative material for use in
metallurgical testing. Three main metallurgical composites were prepared from whole core obtained from this drilling and the
composite samples are outlined in Table 1.
Drill Hole Azimuth /
Dip Zone From
(m)
To
(m)
Thickness
(m)
ALS Analysis (Average)
Cu (%) Fe (%) S (%)
Total C (%) Ag
(g/t)
MS-18-36 N328 / -45
5 45.6 78 32.4 0.53 1.45 0.225 5.3 6
6 78 85 7 0.47 1.5 0.18 5.11 6
7 85 102 17 0.745 1.465 0.305 5.23 10
Table 1: Summary of material used for metallurgical testing
The mineralization of the Sherlock area is hosted in marbles and typically contains approximately 1 to 2 percent total sulphide
minerals made up of predominantly bornite and lesser amounts of chalcocite and then chalcopyrite. Pyrite occurs in trace
amounts of below 0.1% allowing flotation to be easily performed. As the primary copper bearing minerals are bornite and
chalcocite, a very high-grade concentrate is achievable by flotation.
The copper rich zones of the Mitchi project typically contain silver which reported together with cobalt in the concentrate with
up to 644 g/t Ag and up to 190 g/t Co. Detailed chemical analyses were performed on the concentrates produced from the test
work programs, with the results indicating that there appears to be no impurity elements present at a concentration that would
incur smelter penalties.
The results of the metallurgical bench scale test work are summarized in Table 2 and 3. These results consider only basic
optimization that was performed to date. In order to assess the effect of a cleaner scavenger on concentrate grade and
recoveries, a locked cycle test would need to be completed.
Mineral sorting test work has begun and will continue during summer 2019 on fresh samples (non core) that will be collected in
small test pits to simulate representative material that could come from an open pit operation. Further metallurgical test work
to optimize those results and to develop a flow sheet will then be planned accordingly based on those results and other
exploration activity.
"We are at an early stage of development for the Mitchi project but this preliminary metallurgical test work just gave an
enormous boost to the project. In a world where average grades of copper deposits and purity of concentrates are dropping
while capital costs of copper mines and the geopolitical and social acceptability risks are rising, the easily accessible Quebec
based Mitchi project delivered a very high-quality copper concentrate of up to 59% without any deleterious metals.
Furthermore, the potential to recover cobalt in the same concentrate is of significant interest and additional work will be done
to evaluate the potential value and if any higher grade cobalt zones could be present at the Mitchi project.” comments Kiril
Mugerman, President & CEO of Kintavar.
Zone
Rougher
Feed Grade Rougher Concentrate 1st Stage Cleaner Concentrate 2nd Stage Cleaner Concentrate
Cu
(%)
Ag
(ppm)
Weight
Rec.
(%)
Cu
(%)
Cu
Rec.
(%)
Ag
(ppm)
Ag
Rec.
(%)
Weight
Rec.
(%)
Cu
(%)
Cu
Rec.
(%)
Ag
(ppm)
Ag
Rec.
(%)
Weight
Rec.
(%)
Cu
(%)
Cu
Rec.
(%)
Ag
(ppm)
Ag
Rec.
(%)
5 0.56 6 4.1 12.1 88.3 129 84.5 1 40 79.7 409 75 0.7 58.8 76.8 598 71.8
7 0.8 14 4.9 14.7 89.7 246 86.4 1.6 41 82.6 457 73.5 1.1 58.5 80.5 644 70.4
6 0.54 7 6.8 6.9 87.7 70 71.8 1 33.9 71 753 72.8 0.6 53.9 67.3 724 69.3
Table 2: Summary of flotation testing
Element Zone 5 (ppm) Zone 7 (ppm)
Feed Concentrate Feed Concentrate
As 6 70 44.9 24
Sb 0.35 49 2.55 11
Bi 1 18 0 27
Pb 8 527 11 372
Zn 39 1,360 34 2,180
Ni 16 44 17 70
Hg 0.05 0.347 0.01 0.266
Table 3: Summary of assays for deleterious metals in Zone 5 and 7 composites
NI-43-101 Disclosure
The scientific and technical information in this news release has been prepared in accordance with Canadian regulatory
requirements set out in National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects of the Canadian Securities
Administrators ("NI 43-101") and supervised, reviewed and verified by Antoine Lefaivre, P.Eng., Lead Process Engineer,
of Novopro Projects Inc., a "Qualified Person" as defined in National Instrument 43-101 and the person who oversees
metallurgical developments for Kintavar Exploration. Mr. Lefaivre is independent of Kintavar Exploration Inc, and has been
involved in the planning, observation and reporting all test work.
About Kintavar Exploration & the Mitchi Property
Kintavar Exploration is a Canadian mineral exploration Corporation engaged in the acquisition, assessment, exploration and
development of gold and base metal mineral properties. It’s flagship project is the Mitchi property (approx. 30,000 hectares,
100% owned) located west of the Mitchinamecus reservoir, 100 km north of the town of Mont-Laurier. The property covers an
area of more than 300 km2 accessible by a network of logging and gravel roads with a hydro-electric power substation located
14 km to the east. The property is located in the north-western portion of the central metasedimentary belt of the Grenville
geological province. Many gold, copper, silver and/or manganese mineralized showings have been identified to date, with many
characteristics suggesting of a sediment-hosted stratiform copper type mineralization (SSC) in the Eastern portion of the
property and Iron Oxide Copper Gold (IOCG) and skarn type mineralization in the Western portion. Osisko holds a 2% NSR on
27 claims of the southern portion of the Mitchi property, outside of the sedimentary basin.
For further information contact:
Kiril Mugerman, president and CEO
Phone : +1 450 641 5119 #5653
Email : [email protected]
Web: www.kintavar.com
Forward looking Statements:
Neither 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 release.
This news release contains statements that may constitute “forward-looking information” or “forward looking statements” within
the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information and statements may include, among
others, statements regarding future plans, costs, objectives or performance of the Corporation, or the assumptions underlying
any of the foregoing. In this news release, words such as “may”, “would”, “could”, “will”, “likely”, “believe”, “expect”, “anticipate”,
“intend”, “plan”, “estimate” “target” and similar words and the negative form thereof are used to identify forward-looking
statements. Forward-looking statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results, and will not
necessarily be accurate indications of whether, or the times at or by which, such future performance will be achieved. No
assurance can be given that any events anticipated by the forward-looking information will transpire or occur, including
additional closings of the private placement referred to above, or if any of them do so, what benefits the Corporation will
derive. Forward-looking statements and information are based on information available at the time and/or management's good-
faith belief with respect to future events and are subject to known or unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other
unpredictable factors, many of which are beyond the Corporation’s control. These risks, uncertainties and assumptions
include, but are not limited to, those described under “Risk Factors” in the Corporation’s management’s discussion and
analysis for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018, which is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com; they could cause
actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statements. The Corporation does not
intend, nor does the Corporation undertake any obligation, to update or revise any forward-looking information or statements
contained in this news release to reflect subsequent information, events or circumstances or otherwise, except if required by
applicable laws.
1 ICSG presentation - Impurities in Copper Raw Materials and Regulatory Advances in 2018: A Global Overview, October 2018