STELLAR AFRICAGOLD RESUMES GRAVITY PROCESSING OF 15,000 TONNES BULK SAMPLE AT BALANDOUGOU GOLD PROJECT, GUINEA
Vancouver, August 28, 2018 – John Cumming, President and Chief Executive Officer of Stellar AfricaGold Inc., (TSX-V: SPX) (“Stellar” or the “Company”) announces:
Gravity Mill Improvements Completed
Further to the Company’s news release of July 25, 2018 the Company is pleased to announce that having completed some important configuration and structural modifications to the Balandougou Gold Project gravity plant processing of the 15,000 tonnes bulk sample will resume on September 3, 2018. This first round of significant modifications was decided upon following a review of the first few weeks of full-time test operations. The mill operating results were discussed among Stellar’s technical team and outside specialists with experience in west African gravity gold mining and suggested improvements to increase production capacity and improve gold recovery were implemented.
The major modification and improvement to the plant related to the ball mill’s efficiency, particularly its ability to fully pulverize the gold mineralization including the hard quartz. Additionally, the slurry basin size was doubled to prevent overflows and the two Knelson concentrators were reconfigured from a parallel orientation to operate in series for a better recovery of Balandougou’s very fine gold. Lastly further adjustments were made to the shaking table by a specialist in that matter. Collectively these changes will reflect directly on the mill’s gold recovery rate.
The Company also completed a number of minor yet important maintenance requirements including a) construction of a three-stage waste water settling pond to capture fine silts between the liquid tailings separator and the mill reservoir, b) design and installation of an improved filtration system for the water inlet to the mill, c) replacement of all flexible water piping with rigid steel piping, and d) alteration of some electrical circuitry to allow operators to control the ‘on/off’ switching of certain equipment without the delay of communicating with the central electric control panel operator. These changes will improve the efficiency of routine operations and, hence, the overall productivity of the mill.
New Mine Manager and Increased Operating Hours
Stellar has hired a new mine manager well-experienced with gravity mill operations. Upon the resumption of operations under his direction the gravity plant will be staffed by two shifts and will run uninterrupted from 0600 to 1900 hours, a total of 13 hours daily, to increase mill throughput and daily gold recovery.
To read the complete August 28, 2018 Balandougou update news release click here.
