Bonanza 265g/t gold recovered from Orinoco’s hammer mill pilot at Cascavel

The ongoing hammer mill pilot program at Orinoco Gold’s (ASX: OGX) Cascavel project in Latin America has continued returning “outstanding” assay results including a bonanza 265 grams per tonne gold from the Mestre deposit.

Out of 40 samples, assays from the Mestre zone averaged at 47.2g/t gold with six samples giving up grades higher than 100g/t gold including: 114g/t, 117g/t, 119g/t, 227g/t, 254g/t and 265g/t.

The results support recent assays from the ongoing hammer mill pilot program which have produced “consistently high grades”.

“To me, Orinoco is a little like the AFL’s number one draft pick of 2014, which for the next three seasons hardly got a game,” Orinoco managing director Jeremy Gray said.

“Injuries, distractions off the field and a growing lack of confidence were all to blame,” he said, continuing, “Almost traded to the Lions over the summer and long forgotten, Orinoco was given a surprise inclusion for the opener against the Blues – trailing by four goals with 10 minutes to play, Orinoco ran onto the ground and kicked five straight from the outside 50.”

The company’s recently purchased larger 25-30 tonnes per hour hammer mill arrived at the project site on Monday, which the company claims will test the current pilot program in a larger setting.

“We are quietly confident it will, but that is always a risk,” the company stated.

After initial mining failed to produce low cost gold ounces due to “excessive dilution” and “lower recoveries” in the gravity circuit, Orinoco took a “back to basics” approach with a more traditional hammer mill processing route.

Because of the finer-grain of the Cascavel gold, the hammer mill, which crushes the ore into smaller particles, has been able to recover far more gold during processing, compared to the gravity recovery plant.

First hammer mill processing trials were undertaken between late November and mid-December with more than 90% of the gold recovered grading between 30g/t and 149g/t.

In the second assay batch samples were similar with an average 36.68g/t gold.

The company plans to begin mining from a fourth zone which will be the Cuca shaft where rehabilitation is due to finish soon. The company anticipates samples will be taken from Cuca in the next week and to begin reprocessing its tailings this week through the new larger hammer ill.

“For now, it’s too early to know the true potential of Cascavel, however, simple changes to the way we mill our rich ore are showing dramatic improvements to our grade and recovery,” Mr Gray said.

Orinoco’s share price rocketed more than 24% in early morning trade to sit at A$0.067 around mid-day.