Tanzanian Royalty Exploration Corporation announced positive detailed metallurgical test results for the oxide, transition and sulphide ore resources on the Buckreef Gold Project in Tanzania. Final results from column leach tests for the oxide ore resources are 71% recovery for material that is crushed to 6 mm and agglomerated with 1 kg/t cement. Testwork on the sulphide and transition (semi-oxidized) resources indicate a recovery of 58% using a 12.5 mm crush size and agglomeration using 4kg/t of lime and 3 kg/t of cement.

The positive results indicate the potential of alternative lower cost mining methods. Oxide Column test results: Apercolation column leach test was conducted on a composite sample of oxide ore resources with 92% passing 6mm to simulate heap leach cyanidation conditions. Gold recovery of 76% was achieved in 66 days, with >66% obtained in the first 30 days of leaching and >72% extraction in 40 days.

Estimated sodium cyanide consumption was 0.2 kg/t and is considered moderate. Transition and Sulphide Column test results: 54% recovery (79 to 92%) for the transition and sulphide material, with 100% passing 12 mm. Gold recovery rates were moderate to fairly rapid, and gold recoveries of 79% for transition material and 55% for sulphide material were obtained in the first 10 days of leaching.

Although moving to a lower cost mining alternative and away from high priced, fixed contract engineering may result in an initial lower gold recovery percentage, the significantly lower engineering and development costs and faster lead time into production will result in improved payback and potential for self-financing the expansion into other mining projects. The company is now working on developing the lower cost mine plan and its implementation as soon as possible. Sample Protocol and testwork procedures: Metallurgical composites have been prepared from the PQ core.

A total of 3 composite samples have been created for oxide, transition and primary ore materials. Three representative sub-samples of each of the high grade and low grade drill core samples were split and crushed to 6 mm, 12 mm, 15 mm and 20 mm screen sizes. Simulated heap leach tests were undertaken on the 12 samples in order to ascertain the optimal crush size to use for column leach test work.

This entailed bottle rolling each sample for 7 days in excess leach conditions. SGS Lakefield also commissioned a column heap leach test on each of the oxide, transition and primary samples. An amount of 80 kg of each of the 6 mm, 12 mm, 15 mm and 20 mm screen sizes were sampled for the required testwork.

The material was placed in a 190 mm diameter column, simulating a heap height of 4.0 m. A leach solution containing cyanide (NaCN) and lime (CaO) was then pumped into the column at a rate of 10lh/m2. After saturation of the column, approximately 4,200 ml of pregnant solution was collected from the columns every 24 hours and analyzed for gold, NaCN and CaO concentrations for a period of 60 days. After leaching, the ore beds were washed with water for 4 days at the same rate as the leach solution and then allowed to drain.

A profile analysis of the solids contained in the columns was then carried out (top, middle and bottom). This was followed by 48 hour batch dissolution tests on the profile sub-samples of the heap leach column tails, which were subjected to milling to a target grind of 80% passing 75 micron.