# NQ Minerals new high-grade gold potential at surface at Beaconsfield

- Link: https://www.directorstalkinterviews.com/nq-minerals-new-high-grade-gold-potential-at-surface-at-beaconsfield/412852127
- Published: 2020-08-18T07:13:33+01:00
- Author: Giles Arbor

**NQ Minerals plc** (AQSE:NQMI, OTCQB:NQMLF, OTCQB:NQMIY) has announced that the
average grade to date of 3.2 grams per tonne of gold has been returned from extensive
surface stockpiles located on the Company’s 100% owned Beaconsfield Gold Mine in
Tasmania, Australia.

Whilst work is underway for the refurbishment of Beaconsfield’s 350,000 tonne per
year capacity gold processing plant, the NQ geology team has embarked on an exploration
programme of the multiple surface stockpile sites located within the wider Beaconsfield
mining lease, to identify initial ore feed for the plant for when the plant becomes
operational around the end of this year.

A new and exciting development for NQ has been the discovery that excellent gold
grades exist in approximately 80,000 tonnes of surveyed stockpiles in the area called
the historic Wetlands area, that are due east of the Beaconsfield townsite.

To date, 105 samples taken from these stockpiles have returned an average gold grade
of 3.2 grams per tonnes of gold. Sampling will continue over the entire stockpile
sites, to determine the full extent of the contained gold in this area. There is
potential to expand this area of interest considerably over the coming months and
full tonnage and grade results will be published when this exploration work is completed.

Initial metallurgical gold recovery test work also indicates standard Carbon-in-
Leach recoveries of between 83% – 90% can be achieved with relatively short residence
times of less than 12 hours. The Beaconsfield processing plant is equipped to treat
the material with its CIL circuit. The material does not require crushing or grinding
due to its very fine composition.

**About the Beaconsfield Gold Mine**

The Beaconsfield Gold Mine has historic recorded production of c.1.8 million ounces
of gold averaging c.15 grams per tonne (c.1⁄2 ounce per tonne). NQ acquired Beaconsfield
in June 2020 and the Company plans to re-open the mine operations as soon as practicably
possible.

On May 7, 2020, NQ also announced a new JORC (2012) compliant Mineral Resource Estimate
of the lower section of the Beaconsfield Gold Mine of 1.454 million tonnes grading
10.3 grams per tonne (g/t) for 483,000 ounces of gold. Significant additional gold
potential is still to be assessed in the upper section of the old Beaconsfield Mine(
Tasman Reef) workings and its parallel unexplored reefs, plus the orebody remains
open at depth.

> **NQ Mineral’s Chairman, David Lenigas, said**; “The revelation that significant
> gold exists in these stockpiles is a tremendous boost for the Company’s Beaconsfield
> Gold Mine re-opening plans. Our engineers are now working on budgets and timelines
> to bring the Plant’s CIL circuit back on-line as soon as possible to treat this
> material. These high-grade surface stockpiles are only a short trucking distance
> from the plant and will provide valuable low-cost high revenue plant feed much
> sooner than we originally envisaged. The removal of these stockpiles from the 
> Wetlands area will also be the start of a process of rectifying a long standing
> environmental issue in the town by cleaning up old mine waste placed in this area
> over the last 120 odd years and returning the area back to its natural pre-mining
> state.”

**Competent Person’s Statement (NQ Minerals Plc)**

The information in this report that relates to the Beaconsfield Gold Mine is based
on information compiled by Roger Jackson, an Executive Director of the Company, 
who is a 25+ year Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (
MAusIMM) and a Member of Australian Institute of Company Directors. Mr. Jackson 
has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type
of deposits under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify
as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the “Australasian Code for
Reporting of  Exploration results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves”. Mr. Jackson
consents to the inclusion of the data contained in relevant resource reports used
for this announcement as well as the matters, form and context in which the relevant
data appears.

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