Processing and Metallurgy

SXG's production strategy involves the establishment of a 400,000tpa modular processing facility at Marda, where the Company's resource base is centred. A conceptual process flow sheet is shown below:

Preliminary discussions for a plant design using the innovative Ballarat-based company Gekko Systems have commenced. Gekko specialises in modular process plant designs which reduce the time and cost of on-site construction.

Other alternatives to the conceptual process flow sheet shown above would be for the front end of the plant to comprise a mobile crushing and semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) milling circuit ahead of the carbon-in-leach (CIL) circuit. The preferred process flow sheet, capital and operating cost estimates will be confirmed as part of the feasibility study.

Previous metallurgical testwork conducted on the deposits has indicated high recoveries through conventional gravity and cyanide leaching as shown in Table 3 below:

Table 3 - Metallurgical Testwork, SXG oxide gold deposits
Deposit	Sample	Overall Recovery (%)
Battler^	Oxide	93
Python	Oxide	97
Dugite	Oxide	N/A
Goldstream	Oxide and Primary	95
Dolly Pot	Oxide	98
King Brown	Oxide	87*
^ All results are at a grind size of p80 of 75 micron except Battler at p80 of 150 micron * 4 hour leach test compared with 24 hours for all other samples N/A = data not available from previous testwork

Metallurgical testwork demonstrates excellent recoveries through conventional CIP/CIL processing. Gravity recovery from the Battler deposit is between 30 and 40% of the overall recovery. In addition, previous metallurgical testwork on the primary mineralisation at Python achieved a gravity recovery of between 28 and 63% and an overall recovery of between 96 and 98%.