Orion Minerals (ASX:ORN) has announced that metallurgical testwork at the Prieska zinc-copper project in South Africa confirms targeted recoveries with production of saleable zinc and copper concentrates.

As highlighted in the press release:

• Completed testwork confirms metallurgical continuity across the deep sulfide zone at Prieska.
• No material metallurgical zonation issues encountered.
• Excellent copper and zinc metal recoveries confirmed, in line with historical mine performance.
• Ability to produce high-quality, differentiated copper and zinc metal concentrates.
• Results will allow process plant design to proceed, as part of the Prieska BFS due in Q2 2019.
• Preliminary testwork shows potential to use safer and more environmentally-friendly froth-flotation chemical reagents, with added benefit of delivering cost reductions.

Orion managing director and CEO, Errol Smart, said:

This is an important result, which shows that we can expect to at least match and potentially exceed the historical plant performance and concentrate qualities.

The results from the locked-cycle testwork program confirms that we can include and use the historical mine metallurgical performance in the ongoing Bankable Feasibility Study, allowing us to complete the design of the process plant.

We can now also provide potential concentrate off-take parties with target concentrate specifications including minor element analyses, confirming our ability to deliver high quality concentrates.

The fact that we can produce concentrates with negligible levels of key contaminants such as manganese or lead in our zinc concentrates is a real plus for Orion as a new base metals producer.

Click here to read the full Orion Minerals (ASX:ORN) press release.