Mining News: News Nuggets: Floatation shows high copper recoveries for Caribou Dome

Coventry Resources Inc. Nov. 16 provided results from an ongoing metallurgical testing of samples collected from the high‐grade Caribou Dome copper deposit just north of the Denali Highway in Southcentral Alaska. Earlier this year, the company reported greater than 95 percent copper recoveries in concentrates containing up to 24.5 percent copper from initial metallurgical work focused on conventional flotation on a high-grade sample from the Lense 4, 5 and 6 area of the historic Caribou Dome deposit. The company is now investigating whether metallurgical responses differ across the deposit. To accomplish this, samples from discrete locations, rather than composite samples, are being tested. The company said maiden metallurgical testing of mineralization from the recently discovered Lense 7/8 area at the northeast end of the deposit has returned excellent results. Greater than 99 percent copper recovery was achieved from a sample from this area with a head grade of 7.4 percent copper. The resulting concentrates had grades of up to 27.4 percent copper. Coventry said these results would be very acceptable in commercial operations, with such a product being readily saleable. Additional samples collected from across the deposit during a recently completed drill program at Caribou Dome will be used for continued metallurgical work to refine the optimal processing flowsheet for the project. Results will be incorporated into a scoping study investigating the potential to develop a high‐grade, low‐cost starter open pit operation at Caribou Dome. Results from this study are expected in early 2017.

-Shane Lasley