Novo Announces Arrival of Gold Plant And Timeline for Trial Mining at Beatons Creek
VANCOUVER, BC / TheNewswire / December 17, 2015 - Novo Resources Corp. ("Novo" or the "Company") (TSX-V: NVO; OTCQX: NSRPF) is pleased to announce that its IGR3000 gravity recovery plant arrived in Western Australia last week (please refer to the Company's news release dated September 9, 2015 for more details about this plant). Permit applications for a 30,000 tonne trial mine were submitted to regulators on December 1, and approvals are expected by late February.
Trial mining and processing is anticipated to take approximately 2-3 months beginning in early March. Mineralized conglomerate will be sourced from three separate shallow pits (~10,000 tonnes from each pit) where predicted block model resource grades range from about 1.9-5.0 gpt Au (for more information about the Beatons Creek resource, please see the technical report that can be found at the following link: http://novoresources.com/pdf/NI-43-101-Technical-Report.pdf).
Beginning in early January, the IGR3000 plant will be commissioned and various combinations of crushers will be tested to determine the ideal combination needed to crush rock down to a sub-millimeter particle size, the optimal size needed to liberate coarse gold and feed the IGR3000 plant. Data collected from this trial mining exercise will help the Company determine best practices for mining, grade control, grade reconciliation, processing and gold recovery for a future full-scale mining operation.
As discussed in several earlier news releases, Novo is targeting development of an open cast gold mine at Beatons Creek. The scenario being considered envisions mining shallow, oxide-only conglomerate-hosted gold mineralization at a rate of 500,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) and utilizes gravity-only processing to recover gold.
Novo has recently contracted West Perth-based DRA Pacific Pty Ltd to undertake a prefeasibility study (PFS) due late in the first quarter, 2016. In a news release dated November 19, 2015, Novo discussed the possibility of securing new and used components for a gravity mill from various sources in Western Australia, a potentially much cheaper alternative to constructing a turn-key mill. As part of the PFS, DRA will be designing and costing a mill under these guidelines. To date, many mill components have already been identified for potential procurement.
By August, 2015, Novo completed collection of all environmental data needed to support permitting a 500,000 tpa mining operation. Novo is currently drafting a mine plan and other documents necessary for permitting such an operation and anticipates submitting these documents to regulators for review in early 2016.
"We are very pleased to see our IGR3000 gold recovery plant arrive in Australia and establish a timeline for our trial mine in early 2016," commented Dr. Quinton Hennigh, President, CEO and director of Novo Resources Corp. "This test mine will provide invaluable data about mining, grade control, grade reconciliation, processing and gold recovery in preparation for a future full-scale mine."
Quinton Hennigh (Ph.D., P.Geo.) is the Qualified Person pursuant to National Instrument 43-101 responsible for, and having reviewed and approved, the technical information contained in this news release. Dr. Hennigh is President, CEO and Director of Novo Resources Corp.
About Novo Resources Corp.
Novo's focus is to evaluate, acquire and explore gold properties. Indirect subsidiaries of Novo hold a 100% interest in the core of the Beatons Creek gold project, a 70% interest in approximately 1,800 square kilometers surrounding Beatons Creek and at nearby Marble Bar, and a 100% interest in the Blue Spec gold-antimony project, all in the Pilbara region, Western Australia. For more information, please contact Leo Karabelas at (416) 543-3120 or e-mail leo@novoresources.com.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors,
"Quinton Hennigh"
Quinton Hennigh
CEO and President
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.
Forward-looking information
Some statements in this news release contain forward-looking information (within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation) including, without limitation, statements as to the expected results from the trial mining process and the prefeasibility study. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and, as such, involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the statements. Such factors include, without limitation, customary risks of the mineral resource exploration industry as well as Novo having sufficient cash to fund the planned drilling and other exploration activities.
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