TSX-V

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S.A.R.T. Process
A brief non-technical explana8on of Sulda8on, Acidica8on, Recycle & Thickening as it applies to

Andinas Volcan Gold Project

February 2011

What is SART ?
SART is a process designed to control soluble copper in cyanide leach soluAons and free up addiAonal cyanide for reuse.
SuldaAon - the addi8on of Sodium Sulde (NaS) or Sodium Hydrosulde (NaHS) allowing the precipita8on of CuS AcidicaAon - the addi8on of Sulfuric Acid to lower the leach solu8on from a pH of between 10.5 and 11 to a pH of 4 to 6 to allow the precipita8on of copper to occur Recycling Recycle of some of the copper precipitate to the SART reactor to allow forma8on of larger Cu2S crystals to give beTer seTling and thickener performance Thickening - the thickening of the copper precipitate which is then further dried and concentrated into a saleable product

How is SART Helpful At Volcan?

Volcan gold mineraliza8on also contains rela8vely small amounts of copper. Some of that copper is soluble in the solu8ons used to leach gold In total Volcan low-grade mineraliza8on contains about 0.08% copper and the higher-grade averages around 0.14% copper. The copper mineral is mainly chalcopyrite, however there are small quan88es of Tennan8te and Enargite Copper reacts with the reagents used to leach gold and therefore increases the use of those reagents which are costly. The copper concentra8on in solu8on builds in 8me but SART technology extracts the copper and reduces reagent consump8on The Volcan PFS does not consider SART technology but the project can be improved using this process by reducing cyanide consump8on and genera8ng revenue from the sale of copper precipitate While we are quite sure SART will benet Volcan, work was incomplete to be deni8ve about the benets so they were le_ out of the PFS study, for which the owsheet was xed in Sept 2010

What will a SART Plant Cost? A SART plant is an add-on to a typical gold recovery plant and consists of addi8onal tanks, chemical storage facili8es, a precipitate thickener, precipitate lter, pumps and piping We es8mate that a SART plant with the capacity to treat Volcan solu8ons will cost about $25-30 million in addi8on to the process plant proposed in the PFS

What will be the Benet?

As previously men8oned, our engineers did not have enough data to be deni8ve about the benet of SART to Volcan in our PFS. Work on SART for Volcan con8nues in 2011 We do however expect that a 800m/ SART plant will;
Reduce cyanide consump8on by at least 10% resul8ng in savings of around $5.9 million per year Generate almost $6.8 million in copper sales per year Cost about $2.0 million a year to operate

Accoun8ng for the investment of $26 million, the return on investment in SART yield around a 40% IRR This assumes a modest cyanide consump8on savings of 10% however the cyanide savings could be far greater (up to 30%)

Who uses SART?

SART has been around for many years but most gold recovery opera8ons have not had to deal with copper at concentra8ons requiring this type of treatment As purely oxide gold deposits diminish the industry is now forced to look at produc8on from gold deposits with suldes in them, which o_en also come with copper suldes SART is in use or planned to be in use by companies such as Newmont, Barrick, Kinross, Goldcorp, Newcrest, NWM Mining Corpora8on and Anglo Asian Mining PLC There are several SART plants in opera8on around the world including Australia, Mexico, and Azerbaijan
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Flow Diagram of SART

Preg SoluAon (Au, Cu) From Heaps NaSH Lime Lime
Vent from Reactors, SePlers to Lime Scrubber Flocculent HCN SoluAon Cu2S PrecipitaAon SePler

Lime Scrubber for HCN, H2S

Flocculent

Cu2S PrecipitaAon Reactor Sulphuric Acid

Cu2S Precipitate Recycle

NeutralizaAon Reactor
Gypsum Precipitate SePler

Gypsum Recycle

Cu2S Filter Cu2S Drier

Gypsum Filter

Dry Cu2S Precipitate for Bagging Bagged Cu2S Precipitate to Smelter Gypsum Precipitate for Disposal Ca(CN)2 Recycle to Heaps

SART Plant at Telfer Gold Mine, Australia

SART Plant at Lluvia de Oro Gold Mine, Mexico