Hedge funds slash bullish wagers on gold over Trump election win
Hedge funds and other large speculators boosted net-long positions by 11% to 197,362 as of Nov. 12, the lowest in 14 weeks.
Initial metallurgical testing at Sirios Resources’ Cheechoo gold project, in the James Bay region of Quebec, shows the company can expect high gold recovery rates from its flagship project.
Testing on composite samples from the project returned up to 97% gold recovery, through a combination of gravity and cyanidation. Each composite sample consisted of 130 kg of PQ drill core of one of the three types of mineralization found at Cheechoo.
A composite tonalite sample with a head grade of 0.56 g/t gold saw a gold recovery of 96.6%, including 81.4% by gravity. Tonalite represents the majority of gold mineralization at Cheechoo (70%).
A pegmatite sample, representing about 20% of Cheechoo mineralization, had a head grade of 3.06 g/t gold with a recovery of 97.1%, including 88% by gravity.
And a meta-greywacke sample with a head grade of 0.27 g/t gold and representing about 5% of Cheechoo gold mineralization, saw a recovery of 91%, including 56.5% by gravity.
“We are very encouraged by the results of these metallurgical tests which show that the type of gold mineralization in Cheechoo is easy to extract and has high recovery rates,” said Sirios president Dominique Doucet.
A second phase of metallurgical testing is planned.
Sirios is working on a maiden resource estimate for Cheechoo, to be released before the end of the year. The project, which is located about 8 km southeast of Newmont Goldcorp’s Éléonore gold mine, has seen more than 62,200 metres of drilling.
(This article first appeared in the Canadian Mining Journal)
