Taranis Proves Bulk Grade of SIF Zone Pilot Plant Sample 600 mt at 6.5 g/t Gold
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Taranis Resources Inc.
681 Conifer Lane
Estes Park, Colorado
80517
www.taranisresources.com
Taranis Proves Bulk Grade of SIF Zone Pilot Plant Sample
600 mt at 6.5 g/t Gold
Estes Park , Colorado, November 20, 2018 – Taranis Resources Inc. (“Taranis” or the “Company ”)
[TSX.V: TRO] has completed analyses of a bulk sample produced from the SIF pilot gold plant in the
summer of 2017 at its 100% owned Thor project. Various production hypotheses were put to the test; new
and critical steps for economic production were identified and have been incorporated in the planning
stages for larger-scale mining activity, namely Phase II of a Joint Mining and Environmental Application
(Taranis News Release October 15, 2018). Because the Thor Resource primarily hosts silver and has
never produced gold from a monometallic zone in its 100+ year history, gaining a better understanding of
the gold zones is a major development which could drastically increase the already substantial value of
the deposit.
Data gathered in this early scoping study may also enable Taranis to better explore for the continuation of
SIF and has already yielded improved methodologies for more efficient extraction of precious metals
from the ore. Exploration work in the summer of 2018 identified adjacent areas of major quartz veining
bearing strong resemblance to the SIF zone . Further exploration, especially drilling, will be required to
determine these zones’ relevance to the high-grade gold found at SIF.
The following table details the gold content and recovery from the 600 tonnes of SIF ore:
SIF Pilot Gold Plant - Metallurgical Accounting
Grams Ounces
Recovered gold from processing 706.1 24.9
Gold lost in lab processing of Super-Concentrate 27.2 1.0
Gold lost in lab processing of Concentrate 248.8 8.8
Gold lost on shaker table in field ("Tails") 2,897.7 102.2
Total gold contained in ore processed 3,879.8 136.9
Recovery percentage (“field concentrates”) 25.3%
Recovery percentage after lab processing 18.2%
Total tonnes processed in field milling 600
Grams/tonne Ounces/tonne
Actual grade of processed ore 6.47 0.23
Although the permit allowed for the extraction and processing of 1,000 tonne s of ore, field conditions
limited the processing to 600 tonnes of ore. Despite this shortcoming, this was a large enough sample to
provide data to develop general knowledge related to this unique part of Tho r. I dentification and
incremental improvement of operating deficiencies could significantly improve recovery processes in the
upcoming Phase II Mining project.
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Of note is the low recoveries exhibited using the Mt. Baker processing plant. In field operations, the plant
was only able to recover 25.3% of the gold from the ore, and this is attributable in large part to the use of
a hammer mill which could only grind the ore to -1.5 mm in size. The recoveries were further impacted
by the loss of gold in the laboratory processing (re -tabling of the concentrat es), particularly on the finer -
grained concentrate fraction where 35% of the available gold was lost upgrading the material. This
contrasts with only 4% of the gold lost re -tabling the super -concentrate fraction which contained much
coarser gold.
The crushed tailings from the pilot mill are accessible at Thor, and once optimal production efficiency has
been achieved in Phase 2, the crushed tailings c ould be reprocessed for recovery of the remaining gold in
the tailings pond. It is expected that a finer cru sh size will liberate substantially more gold than could be
retrieved using the hammer mill employed in 2017.
SIF Geology
Gold is confined to an area of quartz that is characterized by extensive vugging and iron -oxide alteration
that occurs within a tight anticline structure west of the main Thor deposit . SIF is truncated by a NNW-
trending fault (SIF Fault) that dips moderately to the WSW on the west side of the outcrop. The fault is
traceable on VLF surveys for a considerable distance to the NNW. The structural relationships
demonstrate that gold deposition occurred before the folding and faulting of the zone, making it very
likely that other pieces of SIF remain to be discovered.
Stratigraphically, SIF lies along the contact between underlying Sh aron Creek Formation (carbonaceous
argillite) and the overlying Broadview Formation (greywacke). During the excavation of the open pit,
distinct green sedimentary-tuffaceous rocks of the Jowett Formation were noted. The gold -bearing
horizon is a continuati on of the main Thor deposit, but lacks much of the base metal and silver
mineralization characteristic of the main deposit. In fact, the silver/gold ratio is 0.2:1 at SIF in contrast to
the main Thor deposit where it is 233:1, indicating a rapid and major metal transition in the Thor deposit.
Continuity of Gold at SIF
The SIF zone consists of both fine , disseminated and coarse nuggety gold (up to 4 mm) in quartz . One of
the objectives was to determine whether gold mineralization was restricted to narrow, high-grade
structures, or if the gold was disseminated in the quartz-bearing zone. The results of the pilot mill indicate
that the gold-bearing material was consistently spread out through the 68-day operating period, and from
day to day there was little variation in the gold content of the middlings and tails.
Launder No. Samples Au
Minimum
(g/t)
Au
Maximum
(g/t)
Standard
Deviation
Au Mean
(g/t)
#3 Middlings 62 1.9 34.8 5.8 6.9
#4 Waste 62 1.0 19.5 2.8 4.3
The occurrence of gold throughout the zone is reasonably consistent with the interpretation that the zone
is a stratabound gold occur rence and has the potential to be related to a much large r gold occurrence that
remains undiscovered.
Metallurgical Accounting & Methodology
During the daily operation of the mill, samples were taken from the #3 & #4 launders of the shaker table
and analyzed for gold and 32 element ICP. In addition to this, material was collected from the #1 & #2
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launders (super-concentrate and concentrate respectively) which c ontained all recoverable gold from the
shaker table. The concentrates contained concentrated pyrite as well as trace levels of galena. These bags
were weighed daily and were sent for subsequent upgrading offsite at Met-Solve Laboratories Inc. (“Met-
Solve”).
During the operation of the plant, the volume of material (and gold content) that was discharged from the
#3 and #4 launders was measured. This was reconciled with the number of feed hoppers of ore put
through the mill as well as a volume calculation of the tailings pond to de duce that 600 tonnes of ore had
been processed. The following table shows th e amount of concentrate that was produced from the Mt.
Baker plant over the entire 68-day operating period.
Concentrate Product Kg
Super-concentrate (#4 launder) 91.2
Concentrate (#3 launder) 388.2
Total concentrate 479.4
Concentrate Upgrading (Met-Solve Laboratories Inc.)
The concentrates were upgrad ed by Met -Solve Laboratories in controlled laboratory conditions . This
consisted of two phases, the first being the tabling of the super-concentrates, and the second being tabling
of the concentrates. Gold mass balance charts were created for the super -concentrate and concentrate
products that showed the grade, recovery, and mass distribution for e ach of the products. For more
information, please visit the website www.taranisresources.com.
Magnetic Separation of Super-Concentrate and Concentrate products
Products from the tabling at Met -Solve were separated magnetically. The initial hypothesis was that this
process would have merit in removing tramp iron ablated from the hammer mill, but this early hypothesis
was disproven. In fact, the magnetic component h ad much higher gold grades than the non -magnetic
fraction and this is most probably due to retention of gold smeared on denuded metal from the hammers
in the hammer mill.
Roasting of Pyritic Concentrates
It was expected that gravity concentrates could be smelted in their raw state. After tabling of the products,
several batches of concentrate were smelted in a furnace to recover the gold, and it was found that high
levels of pyrite (up to 60%) caused gold splattering in the furnace. Roasting of the remaining concentrates
(Kingston Process Metallurgy Inc.) was thus required to reduce the amount of sulphur . The following
table shows the reduction in pyrite and sulphur before and after roasting of the ore.
Concentrate Product Estimated
pyrite
content
Sulphur
content
Mass
loss
Pre-Roasting (Non-Magnetic) 59.9% 32.0 % -
Post-Roasting (Non-Magnetic) 9.4% 3.5 % 31%
Pre-Roasting (Magnetic) 9.4 5.6 % -
Post Roasting (Magnetic) 6.0 5.0 % 16.4%
Future production using gravity methods will incorporate the relatively simple roasting processes that
greatly improves efficiency and cost of smelting.
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Recoverable Gold
Final smelting of the concentrates and recovery of gold was undertaken at Northern Mining Analytical
Laboratory Inc. in Timmins, Ontario. The final products were sold at spot metal prices.
Conclusion and Analyses
The pilot plant generally confirmed the effectiveness of the principle of gravity separation on the SIF
Zone, but most importantly w as useful as a method to accurately ascertain the gold content of the SIF
Zone. Diamond drilling and panel sampling provide effective methods to ascertain tenors of gold
mineralization at Thor, but they are not definitive indicators of gold grade. Other factors such as
continuity, nugget effect and recovery can affect the ability of these commonly used exploration methods
when interpreting gold content.
Using the information from the gold pilot plant, minor changes to processing has the potential to improve
recoveries, namely by replacing the hammer mill with a ball mill that will produce finer grinding size and
liberate much more of the gold. The 10,000 tonne bulk sample application (currently under review by the
British Columbia Ministry of Energy and Mines) contains provisions for the application of a ball mill at
Thor on the remaining gold ore to test this concept.
Qualified Person
Exploration activities at Thor were overseen by John Gardiner (P. Geol.), who is a Qualified Person under
the meaning of Canadian National Instrument 43 -101. Met-Solve Laboratories (Langley, B.C.) completed
the metallurgical processing of the concentrates, and MS-Analytical (ISO 9001:2015) performed the
analytical work using 1 assay tonne samples to determine the gold content, and 32 element ICP for the
geochemistry. Kingston Process Metallurgy Inc. completed roasting of the concentrates and sulphur
analyses, and Northern Mining Analytical Laboratory (Timmins) completed the recovery of the gold.
About Taranis Resources Inc.
Taranis is an exploration company focused on the development of its 100% -owned Thor project in
southeast British Columbia . The Company’s mandate is to recognize mineral deposits early in the
exploration cycle that can be developed through intelligent exploration and business alliances. For
additional information on Taranis or its Thor project, please visit our website at
www.taranisresources.com.
Taranis currently has 64,113,067 shares is sued and outstanding ( 77,946,733 shares on a fully -diluted
basis).
TARANIS RESOURCES INC.
Per: John J. Gardiner (P. Geol.),
President and CEO
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For further information contact:
John J. Gardiner
681 Conifer Lane
Estes Park, Colorado
80517
Phone: (303) 716-5922
Cell: (720) 209-3049
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