REG - First Tin PLC - Taronga Gravity Circuit Mineral Processing Update

First TinAnnouncement

07/03/2024 07:00

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
http://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20240307:nRSG8902Fa&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 8902F  First Tin PLC  07 March 2024

 

7 March 2024

First Tin Plc

("First Tin" or "the Company")

Taronga Gravity Circuit Mineral Processing Update

 

Results of New Gravity Circuit Testwork at ALS Laboratory Return Excellent
Recoveries, Significantly Improving on Previous Testwork

 

 

First Tin PLC, a tin development company with advanced, low capex projects in
Germany and Australia, is pleased to announce that additional mineral
processing testwork for its Definitive Feasibility Study ("DFS") at its
Taronga Tin Project ("Taronga") in Australia, has shown enhanced recoveries
from the gravity circuit of the project.

 

ALS Laboratory in Burnie, Tasmania, one of the foremost laboratories for tin
processing testwork worldwide, recently completed testwork on crushing
preconcentrates of two samples from the Taronga project:

 

1.   A "low grade" bulk sample, blasted from the old Newmont adit in the
North zone, with a head grade of 0.11% Sn.

2.   A composite "variability" sample of half core from throughout the
deposit (both North and South zones), constructed to be close to the average
composition and average head grade of the deposit, around 0.13% Sn.

Results highlights:

 

·    Gravity circuit testwork on both the low grade bulk sample and the
variability core sample crushing pre-concentrates has returned:

o  Low grade (0.11% Sn):  71.5% tin recovery to a 69.8% Sn concentrate

o  Variability (0.13% Sn):   72.5% tin recovery to a 60.1% Sn concentrate

·   These results are significant improvements on the previous recoveries
for the high grade bulk sample (0.18% Sn), due to optimising the flowsheet
based on the earlier work.

·     The results confirm that mineralisation with head grades at or below
the average head grade of 0.13% Sn, return plus 70% recovery to the coarse tin
gravity circuit.

·   Inclusion of a fine tin circuit will be examined later and this should
increase the overall recovery even further.

·    Total recovery, including losses from the crushing
pre-concentration, will be reported in the next few weeks.

Based on learning from the previous testwork on the "high grade" sample, the
recent ALS testwork more closely followed the revised processing flowsheet,
include size classification before the spiral circuit.

 

Results were excellent, with recoveries through the gravity circuit of 71.5%
tin to a 69.8% Sn concentrate for the low grade sample and 72.5% tin to a
60.1% concentrate for the variability sample.

 

These are both significant improvements on the previous high grade sample
results, which returned a gravity circuit recovery of 66.4% tin to a 56.2% Sn
concentrate.  The new recoveries are close to those obtained by previous work
conducted by Newmont and Aus Tin.

 

Additional work is being conducted on dressing of the variability sample
concentrate, with the aim of increasing concentrate grade.

 

Both samples had previously been upgraded by crushing and screening at 2.8mm
and thus overall recovery will be proportionately lower. End to end results
including the crushing will be reported in the next few weeks.

 

It should be noted that the low grade sample has a lower head grade (0.11% Sn)
than the average mined grade (0.13% Sn) and the variability sample has a head
grade of 0.13% Sn, close to the average for the deposit.  Hence assumptions
drawn from this work may be conservative.

 

First Tin CEO, Bill Scotting commented: "This work builds on and improves the
previous mineral processing testwork on the initial bulk sample. Optimisations
by our team in Australia and the ALS Laboratory have successfully shown the
deposit has a recovery of over 70% through the gravity circuit, confirming the
previous Newmont testwork. The work also shows that gravity circuit recoveries
for mineralisation that grades below the average grade being mined, remain
above 70%, thus alleviating concerns that the previous testwork was only
conducted on samples with above average head grade.  Results for the full
circuit, including crushing, will be reported in the next few weeks, and
results of that are eagerly awaited."

 

The project is owned by First Tin's 100% owned Australian subsidiary, Taronga
Mines Pty Ltd ("TMPL").

Enquiries:

 

 First Tin                                                                      Via SEC Newgate below
 Bill Scotting - Chief Executive Officer
 Arlington Group Asset Management Limited (Financial Advisor and Joint Broker)

 Simon Catt                                                                     020 7389 5016

 WH Ireland Limited (Joint Broker)
 Harry Ansell                                                                   020 7220 1670

 SEC Newgate (Financial Communications)
 Elisabeth Cowell / Molly Gretton                                               FirstTin@secnewgate.co.uk

 

Notes to Editors

First Tin is an ethical, reliable, and sustainable tin production company led
by a team of renowned tin specialists. The Company is focused on becoming a
tin supplier in conflict-free, low political risk jurisdictions through the
rapid development of high value, low capex tin assets in Germany and
Australia, which have been de-risked significantly, with extensive work
undertaken to date.

Tin is a critical metal, vital in any plan to decarbonise and electrify the
world, yet Europe has very little supply. Rising demand, together with
shortages, is expected to lead tin to experience sustained deficit markets for
the foreseeable future.

First Tin's goal is to use best-in-class environmental standards to bring two
tin mines into production in three years, providing provenance of supply to
support the current global clean energy and technological revolutions.

 

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
 or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
.   END  UPDSSLFWMELSEFD