Iberian Minerals Corporation confirmed that after extensive metallurgical testing and study, the Company is in the process of modifying the polymetallic process circuit which among other modifications will include the installation of a new modular copper and lead separation circuit within the existing polymetallic flotation circuit at the Aguas Tenidas process plant. The modular flotation separation circuit will further process bulk copper and lead concentrates which are now being produced in the polymetallic circuit. As previously reported, modifications to the polymetallic circuit for a bulk flotation circuit were completed and the bulk flotation circuit has been fully operational since August producing saleable bulk concentrates.
After review, it was concluded that the existing polymetallic circuit which was designed initially as a sequential flotation circuit was unable to either consistently produce saleable copper and lead concentrates or achieve stated metallurgical recoveries within the original feasibility study parameters. To address this situation extensive metallurgical test work was conducted at Aguas Tenidas with the assistance of independent metallurgical consultants.
The construction of the modular flotation separation circuit has been contracted to Westpro Machinery of Vernon, BC and is scheduled for installation in Q4 with a view to being fully operational by December 2009. The modular circuit will be installed in an open space area within the existing plant, so requiring minimal modification or down time at the process plant.
In conjunction with the process plant modification, the Company is requesting from the relevant government authorities a modification to the process plant permit which would include the use of additional flotation reagents to be used in both the bulk flotation and copper and lead flotation separation circuits. The use of these reagents is considered essential while there can be no guarantee of the fact of or exact timing of such issuance the Company has reviewed the matter in detail and is confident that such modification will be granted in due course.
Mr Daniel Vanin president & CEO of Iberian said that "With the help of our independent metallurgical consultants, our team has now addressed metallurgy and recovery challenges which have impacted the polymetallic circuit performance. We were not satisfied with our technical and financial results as a result of the poor performance of the sequential flotation design and we are now implementing a plan that is expected to move us to feasibility study metal recoveries from polymetallic ores. With these planned modifications which are well underway, we will retain flexibility for the future in terms of process capacity and metalurgical performance and at the same time, enhance the polymetallic process circuit to meet our expectations for performance."
The planned modification is expected to cost EUR 1.725 million which has already been included as part of the CAPEX budget for the Aguas Tenidas Mine for 2009.
