Gold And Silver Assay Procedure:

Cazaderos Beneficiation Plant

1.0 Preparing Samples

1.1 Gridning Samples
Take a 100g representative from various locations around the plant (head ore, Falcon concentrate, Falcon tails, floatation concentrate (Cu), floatation tails (Fe)) and grind them down to a soft flour consistency. Keep samples separated, bagged and numbered.

1.2 Preparing Flux Cup

All cups use 20.00 g of sample and flame retardant porcelain cups. Also, a mixture of 1:1 Bx and NaCl is added to couver all mixtures to prevent splashing. Further, ensure that all cups are labeled with a heat resistant marker (rusty nail often works). 1.2.1 Head Ore, Falcon Concentrate and Tails For the head ore, falcon concentrate and Falcon tail samples, the additions are as follows: PbO: 50g Bx: 20g CO32-: 15g SiO2: 5g Flour: 2.2g

Carefully mix all components including the 20 g of sample into the cup until a homogenous mixture is attained, without loosing any of the powders in the process. 1.2.2 Floatation Concentrate (Cu) and Tails (Fe) These samples are mixed with different combination of these components. They are: PbO: 60g Bx: 20g CO32-: 15g SiO2: 20g KNO3: 28g (Concentrate(Cu)), 24g (Tails(Fe))

An extra component is added to oxidize the rest of the mixture. It is a mix of 6:3:2 mix of CO32-:Bx:SiO2 and approximately 10g of this is added to the cup. Carefully mix all components including the 20 g of sample into the cup until a homogenous mixture is attained, without loosing any of the powders in the process.

2.0 Creating Lead Amalgam

All cups are placed in an oven at 1030o C for 45 min to liquefy. This is then poured into a steel mold and left to cool. Ensure you know which sample is which after pouring. Check to ensure that there is no chunks left in the cup after pouring. When cool, the slag/glass has settled on top and left a lead amalgam at the bottom of the mold. The glass is broken and lead amalgam hammered into a cube one by one to not confuse them. Orderly, the cubes are placed back into the oven on a porous crucible to melt and evaporate the lead. The remaining dore is recouvered and weighed.

3.0 Determining Gold and Silver Content

The dore is hammered to ensure maximum surface area. This is then weighed and the silver is dissolved with nitric acid. The remaining gold is then weighed (very small) and by difference, the mass of the silver is also determined. Taken in relation to the 20g sample size, a percentage is found and thus the grade of various parts along the mill are determined.