Erdene Resource Development Corp has received excellent results from preliminary metallurgical testing conducted on drill core composites from its Bayan Khundii Gold Project in southwest Mongolia.

The testing was conducted by Blue Coast Research Ltd (BCR), of British Columbia, Canada, and found the gold from Bayan Khundii is free milling and amenable to conventional processing techniques. It also determined that gravity concentration and cyanidation of the gravity tails yields very good overall gold recoveries for both high-grade and low-grade composites.

The tests demonstrated 99% recovery of gold from high-grade composite using gravity plus cyanide leach methods and 92% recovery of gold from low-grade composite using the same methods.

“From the initial drill results received two months ago, to these very encouraging metallurgical results, Bayan Khundii is proving to be an exceptional gold discovery when you consider the high-grade, large size potential, proximity to surface, and now high gold recoveries,” said Erdene’s president and CEO Peter Akerley. “We have a number of studies under way geared towards a quick ramp-up for this project as we move into the second quarter.”

The metallurgical testing program was designed to provide an initial scoping level characterization of both gravity and cyanide recovery techniques for Bayan Khundii samples.

In December 2015, Erdene announced initial drill results for a new gold discovery identified during the 2015 exploration season, named Bayan Khundii (Rich Valley), located within the prolific Tian Shan gold belt.

The maiden drill program targeted multiple parallel structures over a 475 metre by 300 metre area where quartz veining and breccia exposed at surface contained visible gold. In 10 of the 15 holes drilled visible gold was observed, mostly as finely disseminated grains, with some individual grains up to 2mm.

Erdene completed an induced polarization geophysical program over the prospect in the December quarter of 2015 that indicates the mineralization is located at the apex of broad positive chargeability and resistivity anomalies.