Sarama Resources Ltd. announced that preliminary metallurgical testing at its South Houndé Project in south-west Burkina Faso has returned encouraging results, indicating potential for heap leach processing of oxide mineralization. Preliminary Metallurgical Test work for Oxide Heap Leaching: A preliminary metallurgical test work program has been commenced by ALS Metallurgy Pty Ltd. under the supervision of Kappes, Cassiday & Associates Australia Pty Ltd. (KCAA) to determine the amenability of oxide mineralization to processing by heap leaching. A composite oxide sample, weighing approximately 240 kg, was generated from weathered quartz-feldspar-porphyry hosted mineralization in 6 individual diamond drill half-core samples sourced from within the mineral resource.

The constituent holes were selected so as to provide reasonable representatively across the MM Prospect which hosts the majority of the mineral resources at the South Houndé Project. Intermittent Bottle Roll Leach Testing: IBR testing, under which the samples are gently rolled in a sodium cyanide solution for duration of 1 minute per hour for a total test time of 10 days, is a first-pass test designed to provide an insight into the potential leach performance of a coarse crushed feed. The gold extractions and low reagent consumptions achieved in the IBR testing indicate that the mineralization is potentially amenable to heap leaching.

The generally high rates of extraction, while influenced by the friable nature of the samples and the resulting small particle size, are encouraging, and on this basis, the company has commissioned a column leach test on the -25 mm composite sample. Agglomeration and Percolation Testing: As is common with heap leaching of oxide material, the fine and friable nature of the oxide composite sample necessitated agglomeration with cement to provide a competent heap leach feed. A series of tests was conducted on the -25 mm sample at cement dosage rates of 6 kg/ton feed, 12 kg/ton feed and 18 kg/ton feed to assess ease of agglomeration, particle stability and percolation characteristics in a column of approximately 400 mm height.

The tests indicated that, at all 3 cement dosage rates, the composite sample was able to form an agglomerated product that was visually acceptable. Agglomerate stability also met minimum performance criteria with all 3 tests having less than 10% height slump from initial placement after the introduction of fluids and tapping to induce settlement. This result is encouraging and indicates that low to moderate cement additions would be required.

Percolation tests were conducted for each cement dosage rate by measuring water flow through the column charged with agglomerated product. Overall, results are encouraging and indicate that low to moderate cement additions would be required. Based on the initial results from the agglomeration and percolation testing, Sarama has moved to full column (200 mm diameter) leach testing of the -25mm oxide composite sample using agglomeration with a cement dosage of 10kg/tonne feed.

Metallurgical Testwork Program for Fresh mineralization: Following the completion of the preliminary metallurgical testwork program on the fresh mineralisation at MM and MC Prospects (The previous testwork demonstrated high gold leach extractions of 89.9% for the fresh mineralization when subjected to flotation and oxidation prior to cyanidation. The oxidation of the concentrate, achieved by roasting, was the key determinant in the flowsheet to realize acceptable levels of gold extraction. Sarama believes similar levels of oxidation could potentially be achieved using the BIOX(R) and Albion Process(TM) methods, whilst potentially realizing cost and environmental benefits compared to the roasting process.

A 495kg composite sample of fresh mineralization, with a head grade of 2.14g/t Au, has been sourced from the MM, MC and Phantom Prospects within the mineral resource at the South Houndé Project. The composite sample is undergoing sulphide flotation to produce a pyrite-dominant flotation concentrate which will then be subjected to oxidation testwork at specialized facilities in Johannesburg (for the BIOX(R) process) and Brisbane (for the Albion Process). The oxidation testwork is designed as an 'orientation' or 'batch' scale and will test approximately 7-10 kg of concentrate for each method.

Key metrics obtained by the testwork programs will include degree of sulphide oxidation, reagent consumptions, energy requirements and gold extraction. BIOX and the Albion Process are both commercially viable treatment methods for sulphide-hosted gold mineralization, with the BIOX method being used to produce approximately 1.5Moz Au per annum in 11 operations worldwide. Contingent upon successful test results, Sarama believes these processes could be applied to an industrial gold processing operation at the South Houndé Project.

As part of this program, flotation optimization testwork was conducted to investigate the potential to improve the mass pull and/or gold recovery to concentrate characteristics observed in the original 2013 testwork program (bulk flotation test yielded 6.1% mass pull and 93.8% gold recovery to concentrate). A series of scout flotation demonstrate that the mineralization floats very easily, achieving a +85% gold recovery to concentrate in the first rougher flotation cell, subject to the specific flowsheet used. The testwork also shows that the concentrate is amenable to cleaning, reducing the mass pull to final concentrate to 4.2% with a corresponding gold recovery to concentrate of 88.9% at a sulphur content of 26.3%.

Whilst the South Houndé Project is at a preliminary stage, this optimisation work further demonstrates that the mineralization responds well to flotation and that the concentrate as a feedstock for downstream oxidative processing can be tailored to suit a range of specifications and/or operating constraints.