Cartier Delivers Metallurgical Results Exceeding Expectations with 96.3% Gold Recovery at Cadillac

Executive Summary

• Cartier Resources announced highly positive metallurgical testwork results for the Main Sector of its Cadillac Project, achieving an overall gold extraction rate of 96.3%.
• The results show a significant improvement in gold recovery compared to both the 2023 Preliminary Economic Assessment (up 3.2%) and historical Chimo Mine average production (up 5.7%).
• The testwork demonstrated low cyanide consumption, low sulfur content, and efficient gold dissolution through optimized grinding and pre-aeration.

Key Details

• Gold Extraction Rates:
  • Overall Main Sector extraction: 96.3%
  • Chimo deposit: 97.1%
  • East Chimo deposit: 95.4%
  • West Nordeau deposit: 96.6%
• Economic & Chemical Metrics:
  • Expected cyanide consumption: Approximately 0.25 kg/t.
  • Estimated cyanide losses to tailings: Approximately 0.3 kg/t.
  • Sulfur content: Low, ranging from 0.93% to 1.46%.
  • Gravity recovery potential: 30% to 60% of gold can be recovered via gravity separation.
• Comminution & Processing:
  • Optimized grinding size: D80 of 50 µm.
  • Bond Ball Mill Work Index (Bwi): 13.1 to 14.3 kWh/t (indicating moderately hard material).
  • SMC test A×b values: 25 to 32.
  • Process flow: Conventional milling including crushing, grinding, cyanide leach, and gravity separation, utilizing a pre-aeration step and lead-salt addition.
• Testwork Methodology:
  • Conducted on NQ-size half-drill core intervals.
  • Total samples: 6 composites totaling 388.7 kg from Chimo, East Chimo, and West Nordeau deposits.

Notable Quotes

• Philippe Cloutier, President and CEO of Cartier: "Achieving gold recoveries above 96% in the Main Sector highlights the metallurgical characteristics of the Cadillac mineralization and reinforces the project’s strong development potential."
• Ronan Deroff, Vice President Exploration of Cartier: "Improving gold extraction of Chimo deposit approximatively at 97% and establishing first-time metallurgical recovery data for the East Chimo and West Nordeau satellite deposits... exceed our expectations and enhance the economic potential of the Cadillac project. Additionally, we are now considering conducting a maiden metallurgical testing program on the very promising North Contact gold zone..."