Canadian small-cap Talisker Resources has sent 400kg of sample material from its Bralorne gold project in British Columbia to a Tomra test centre in Germany for a second round of laser-based ore sorting.
An initial phase of work at Bralorne nearly doubled the final sorted product grade to about 28 grams per tonne gold with up to 55% of sample rock mass rejected as waste and 95-99% gold recoveries indicating Bralorne vein material was well suited to Norwegian manufacturer Tomra’s proprietary multi-channel laser sorting technology.
The technology uses a scattering effect of multiple laser beams to separate quartz vein from waste material.
Quartz or quartz veins appear as glowing crystals because quartz returns laser light over a larger area, while other materials stay dark. The laser sorter is a gravity system, scanning both sides of the material and assessing various characteristics simultaneously.
“The purpose of this second ore-sorting study is to confirm the excellent results obtained in the preliminary study, utilising run of mine material from active operational areas,” Talisker CEO Terry Harbort said.
“Due to the obvious potential direct impact on project economics related to trucking and milling and the indirect impact of mining efficiencies we are fast-tracking this study as quickly as possible to unlock these benefits at Bralorne.”
The latest shipment of Talisker material to Tomra’s test centre in Wedel, Germany, included mineralised veins, mineralised halo and barren wall rock from the company’s Mustang underground mine and Bralorne West area.
Bralorne historically produced 4.2 million ounces of high-grade gold up to 1971 from a number of mines.
