BBX Minerals Ltd (ASX: BBX) shares are soaring today after the company shared news it has developed an assay protocol for gold from its Ema Project.
At the time of writing, the BBX Minerals share price is up 15.38%, trading at 30 cents per share. Let's take a closer look at today's announcement from the mineral exploration company.
Test work results
BBX Minerals announced the results from test work done at its facility in Rio de Janeiro this morning.
The company said that after reviewing all the analytical methods and concepts tested to date, it's finally found the best way to produce reliable and consistent gold assay results.
The tests aimed to perfect the recovery and analysis of gold from a surface sample taken from the company's Ema project.
BBX Minerals conducted 10 separate tests, with 9 showing between 16.1 grams of gold per tonne and 23.2 grams of gold per tonne. One sample was significantly less – finding 7.9 grams of gold per tonne.
BBX Minerals will now use this method to analyse drill hole samples from both its 2017 and current drilling campaigns. It's in the process of finding a laboratory to run the analytical program.
The company also announced it was continuing its work with the research institute IPT to find a parallel analytical method for the refinement of platinum group minerals and silver.
The program is expected to finish in mid-June, as long as no further COVID-19 restrictions are imposed.
Commentary from management
BBX Minerals CEO André J Douchane commented on the successful findings, saying:
This assay method is a combination of smelting and acid leach followed by either MIBK or precipitation of metal. The leach uses one acid for extracting gold and platinum and a different acid for extracting silver and palladium. Most importantly, this assay method is different from the 5-acid method developed by IPT in that it does not need specialty reagents and it can be done in a matter of a few hours instead of 4 to 5 days.
BBX continues working towards enhancing its extraction method aiming at enhancing recoveries for gold and other precious metals. We will begin assaying the drill holes as soon as we can get this assay method set up to be used at a 3rd party laboratory.
BBX Minerals share price snapshot
The BBX Minerals share price has been having a bumpy ride on the ASX lately, with today's news levelling it with its starting price at the beginning of 2021 once more.
The BBX Minerals share price has gained 190% over the last 12 months, however.
The company has a market capitalisation of around $122 million, with approximately 434 million shares outstanding.
