GoGold to Advance the Santa Gertrudis Gold Deposits

GoGold Resources (TSX:GGD) has provided a progress update on its wholly-owned Santa Gertrudis Gold deposits in Sonora Mexico.
As quoted in the press release:

Following the completion of the Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) by P&E Mining Consultants Inc. in August 2014, GoGold has continued to assess various processing methods. The PEA was based on conventional cyanide heap leaching for the recovery of the precious metals; in part, because the property has a long production history using cyanide heap leaching. Further preliminary metallurgical testing was completed at the Kappes Cassidy & Associates (KCA) laboratories in Reno Nevada which indicated that cyanide vat leaching could be a viable alternative to conventional heap leaching; with achieved vat gold recoveries in the low 80% range (at a -8mm crush size over 50 hours of leach) on the first deposits tested along the main mineralized trend including Trinidad, Dora, Corral and Ruben.
While the leaching mechanism is similar, the primary difference between heap and vat leaching is that heap leaching occurs on large pads which are exposed to the weather elements whereas vat leaching occurs in smaller, more controlled batches in concrete vats. Some of the considered advantages of vat leaching at Santa Gertrudis are:

1. Lower investment risk. The capital to achieve initial production will be significantly lower than the $32 million USD price tag determined by the PEA for heap leaching;
2. Faster project development: 4 to 6 month development schedule taking advantage of existing infrastructure at the old plant site;
3. More flexible in processing the many deposits on the property. The normal variation in leach kinetics and process conditions can be easily handled in the vat scenario and allow for more aggressive mining under possible varying mineralogy;
4. Quick revenue generation as recovery times are much faster in the vat process;
5. Increase in gold recoveries over conventional heap leaching as vats can withstand much higher irrigation solution rates compared to heaps; and,
6. Lower cyanide foot print which allows for easier environmental control;

In terms of further assessing the benefits of vat leaching, GoGold plans to begin an initial phase with a 2,000 tons per day (tpd) vat leaching operation which will allow field evaluation of the many ore types and deposits which will aide in perfecting the operating process. The results of these large-scale tests would in turn provide input to an updated feasibility study of the property. GoGold believes the scale of the proposed initial plant would allow sufficient cash flow to cover the full cost of the plant and the feasibility study program. Following successful evaluation, the project can then be easily scaled up by adding additional vats to the expected full commercial operation.

Click here to read the full press release.