Northair Reports Positive Metallurgical Results for La Cigarra Silver Project, Mexico
Silver Recoveries Range from 85% to 90%
International Northair Mines Ltd. (TSXV: INM) (the "Company" or "Northair") is pleased to announce the receipt of continued positive results from the latest metallurgical test work carried out on samples from the La Cigarra silver project, located in north central Mexico. Recoveries of silver range from 85% to 90%.
"Results from this phase of metallurgical testing on material from the San Gregorio Zone at La Cigarra show good silver recoveries with the production of a lead concentrate with gold credits" said Fred Hewett, President & CEO of Northair. "Further work will be scheduled to confirm the process flow sheet and optimize recoveries, but this is an excellent result at this stage of the project."
The samples for the test work were collected by the Company from the San Gregorio Zone and classified into sulphide and oxide material. The sulphide samples were selected from 13 core drill holes, while the oxide samples were collected from 4 core drill holes. A flotation and cyanide leaching flow sheet was developed in order to achieve the optimum recovery of silver and base metals.
For sulphide material, silver was primarily recovered in a lead flotation concentrate. Initial recoveries of up to 73% of the silver and 70% of the lead were achieved at a primary grind size of 75 microns from material containing 68 g/t silver and 0.15% lead. In a separate test, about 85% of the silver in the lead cleaner tailings was extracted in a 96-hour carbon-in-leach process after regrinding to 11 microns. Based on these results, there is potential to recover approximately 85% of the total silver from material in a combined flotation-leaching flow sheet. This will be investigated further in future metallurgical programs. Preliminary assessment of the lead concentrate containing 48% lead and 22,600 g/t silver indicates that it would be marketable to smelters.
For oxide material, the silver is more amenable to whole ore leaching than flotation. Approximately 90% of the silver was extracted from material containing 57 g/t silver in 48 hours of whole ore cyanidation at a grind size of 94 microns.
These results indicate that a combined flotation-leaching flow sheet would achieve maximum silver recovery and could apply to both the sulphide and oxide ores.
Preliminary testing also indicated the potential for producing a zinc concentrate from the lead flotation tailings. A zinc flotation test on the tailings recovered about 55% of the zinc and 6% of the silver in a concentrate grading 57% zinc and 1,764 g/t silver grade. The material sample contained 0.12% lead, 0.15% zinc and 44 g/t silver.
The Company is planning further testing to confirm the process flow sheet and metallurgical performance with samples to be collected representing material from both the San Gregorio and Las Carolinas zones.
The metallurgical program was carried out by G&T Metallurgical Services of Kamloops, B.C., through the consulting firm of JDS Energy & Mining Inc., under the supervision of Hoe Teh, P.Eng, a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. Mr. Teh has reviewed this news release and agreed to its contents.
About the La Cigarra Silver Project
The La Cigarra Project is located in the state of Chihuahua along the eastern fringes of the Sierra Madre Occidental in Mexico. Local topography is gentle with good road access to the major city of Parral, located 26 kilometres to the south east. The 32,064 hectare property position contains a significant silver bearing system, with a resource presently being calculated on a small portion of the property. Further exploration and infill drilling is underway with the objective of providing sufficient data to expand the potential resource.
This news release has been prepared in accordance with Canadian regulatory requirements set out in National Instrument 43-101 and approved by Fred Hewett the Company's President and CEO, and a Qualified Person under NI 43-101.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD,
INTERNATIONAL NORTHAIR MINES LTD.
"Fred G. Hewett"
____________________________________
Fred G. Hewett, P.Eng.
President & CEO
at 604-687-7545 or 1-888-338-2200
Website: www.northair.com/international/ Email: info@northair.com
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This news release may contain forward looking statements which are not historical facts, such as ore reserve estimates, anticipated production or results, sales, revenues, costs, or discussions of goals and exploration results, and involves a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, metal price volatility, volatility of metals production, project development, ore reserve estimates, future anticipated reserves and cost engineering estimate risks, geological factors and exploration results. See Northair's filings for a more detailed discussion of factors that may impact expected results.
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