coco csesecesses

Cleaning trommels of

wet milling } lant

era for open pit mining, but the

start of a new one with the new
McDame mine currently being
developed.

Wet Milling

The wet milling pilot plant began
operation in early August,
although the instrumentation for
the plant and some other process
equipment was not delivered until
later. Over the first few months of
operation, the plant has

demonstrated it can run at its
1,000 tonnes per year design
capacity and produce a marketable
product. The results of tests
indicate that the grading and
drying circuits are adequate to
handle the material produced
when the plant capacity is
increased to 4,000 tonnes per year,
but cleaning and dewatering
circuits require modification and
additions.

To date, all tests have used current
mill tailings, but the higher grade
materials from the old tailings

stockpile will be tested later. This

stockpile contains some 14 million
tonnes of material, with an

average grade of 3.5 percent.

Customer interest in the product
from the wet mill is high, based on
results from the operation of a
small-scale test facility in 1987.
Preliminary samples were shipped
to potential customers for

commercial testing in early 1989.