The Jinlonggou gold deposit lies within a low, north-west trending, mountain range (Tanjianshan) composed of Wandonggou and Tanjianshan Group rocks, with Early Palaeozoic gabbro intruding the Proterozoic rocks and Late Paleozoic porphyritic plagiogranite intruding all older units.

The Jinlonggou gold mineralization lies within Member 1 of Formation B of the Wandonggou Group. The host rock sequence is dominated by carbonaceous phyllites that commonly contain porphyroblastic chiastolite. The rocks are dark grey to black and display a well-developed foliation. In the central and southern parts of Jinlonggou, a number of orange brown sandstone bands are also present and act as key marker horizons.

Two intrusive rock types occur within the limits of the mineralization and are both of probable intermediate composition. The dominant intrusive is a fine grained phyllic altered diorite that is either light orange or light green in colour. The intensity of alteration has been used to sub-divide the diorites into three classes – D1, D2, and D3. Diorites where original textures are still visible are classified as D1, where partly obscured, D2 and where completely altered, D3. In some specimens earlier silicification has preserved some of the euhedral plagioclase phenocrysts. Acicular amphiboles (actinolite) are visible in D1 samples. The diorites have been further altered in areas of mineralization.

The second intrusive type is quartz-feldspar porphyry (QFP). It occurs as relatively narrow sill-like bodies within the mineralized zone. Original textures and mineralogy are typically visible with only minor phyllic alteration. It is a pale cream to white rock containing common feldspar phenocrysts, strongly altered to sericite and quartz, and ubiquitous subhedral to rounded quartz phenocrysts.

Both intrusive unit types occur above and below the T2 thrust but in quite different styles. Above T2 fault, the intrusives occur as steep (60°- 70°) SW dipping, SE trending thin bodies which clearly cut across the folded sedimentary units.

Qinlongtan mineralization is confined to a 50o -60o east-dipping fault zone within a sequence of carbonaceous phyllite, marble and minor intermediate and felsic porphyry intrusives. The fault zone is typically 5 m to 10 m wide, to a maximum of 14 m and is orientated approximately parallel to the primary layering which averages 60° NE 157°. Minor folds and fracture intersection linears plunge dominantly to the south at around 25° and control mineralization trends. There is little evidence of fault movement or brecciation. In addition to the main plane of mineralization, there is some evidence of a second, thin hanging wall zone, less than 1 m wide, intermittently mineralized with grades up to 5 g/t Au. No resources have been defined within this plane.

The main mineralized plane has been dexturally offset by two faults orientated 55° NW 025° and 65° NW 025° with lateral offsets of 30 m and 5 m respectively. Mineralization terminates abruptly at the northern end of the deposit (around section 16360 mN) and may be due to faulting. But the exact location and orientation of this structure has not yet been determined.

Gold is associated with pyrite and arsenopyrite in both of the host rocks, phyllite and diorite. Early replacement pyrite occurs within the chiastolite porphyroblasts and as tiny lenses and veinlets in the plane of the foliation. Replacement typically ranges from a fine dusting of pyrite to complete replacement on the inner and outer edges of the carbonaceous rims. Occasionally, the whole rim is replaced; the rim and internal carbon are replaced or the whole porphyroblast is replaced. Cutting all of these features but not displacing them are pyrite veinlets up to 0.2 mm in width. These are orientated at angles of 70o - 80o to foliation. The latest phase is pyrite veinlets of about the same width but orientated sub-parallel to foliation.

Pyrite within the diorite host is typically disseminated either as small aggregates of pyrite crystals or as individual fine grains. Veining occurs but as hair-thin fracture coatings to narrow, commonly anastomosing, veinlets.

Gold is hosted within the pyrite and arsenopyrite crystals. Minor amounts occur within quartz grains enclosed in pyrite. A strong relationship exists between gold and fine grained sulphide minerals. The two host rocks have behaved in a similar fashion in their ability to take up sulphide. Levels of the two sulphides agree quite well with those recorded originally by Q1.

Gold mineralization in the Jinlonggou deposit exhibits a strong structural control. Sulphide and gold mineralization are preferentially developed in a network of brittleductile faults. These faults have provided adequate pathways for fluid circulation, particularly in those trending 030° on the western side of the deposit. On the eastern side, deposition appears to have been enhanced in proximity to the diorite intrusions as evidenced by the close spatial relationship between distinctively higher-grade mineralization and the diorites – both on the margins and within the intrusives. The diorite bodies may have provided efficient structural (mechanical) and chemical (composition) traps enhancing reaction of auriferous fluids with shear zone wall rock.

In the fault zone, continued deformation of pelitic meta-sediments caused kinking (crenulation) of the initial foliation and development of a strong overprinting foliation. Importantly, invasion of the rocks by mineralizing hydrothermal fluid was encouraged by the higher permeability created by the fault zone, resulting in replacement of precursor minerals (pyrrhotite, Fe-Ti oxides) by fine grained aggregates of pyrite ± arsenopyrite ± native gold and deposition of the same assemblage along foliation planes. Minor thin foliation-parallel veinlets were filled by carbonate + quartz + pyrite ± sphalerite.

All ore and waste will be mined via conventional, open pit mining methods, using mining contractors. The operation is planned to utilize selective mining techniques to separate ore and waste. The mining equipment that is considered to be suitable for the TJS would include 20 tonnes to 75 tonnes back hoe excavators for ore zone mining and offhighway haul trucks with a payload capacity of between 10 to 50 tonnes.

Run of Mine (ROM) ore is delivered to the ROM feed bin by front-end loader (FEL). Ore is withdrawn from the ROM bin by a variable speed apron feeder to the primary crusher. Crushed ore reports to the crusher discharge conveyor which feeds onto the ROM bin feed conveyor.

Ore will be stored in a surge bin with 24 hours capacity. The ore will be removed by four vibrating feeders (two variable speeds, two fixed speed) and fed into a Semi Autogenous Grinding (SAG) mill. Under normal operation, one fixed speed and one variable speed unit will operate. There will be provision to bypass the surge bin with material if required. This will be loaded manually onto the SAG feed conveyor by the FEL.

Crushed ore is fed to the single stage, closed circuit SAG mill. The mill product discharges via a trommel screen to a splitter box. Oversize from the trommel reports to a bunker for removal by Bobcat or front-end loader.

The cyclone overflow reports to the conditioning tank for the flotation circuit. Methyl IsoButyl Carbinol (MIBC (30 g/t)) and sodium Iso-Butyl Xanthate (SIBX (200 g/t)) will be added to this tank in preparation for the flotation process. The slurry will then flow to the rougher flotation tanks. The rougher section will consist of four KYF-16 (16 m3 ) cells. The overflow from the rougher section will report directly as concentrate. The underflow will report to the scavenger cells.

The flotation concentrate will be pumped to a 9 m conventional thickener to increase the density from 12.5% to approximately 65% solids. The thickener underflow will then be pumped to either a mixing tank or a plate filter.

The dewatered pulp will be fed through a distributor pack where pulp is sprayed by high pressure air into the first fluid bed roaster. Air is introduced to the base of the roaster to provide the oxygen requirements for the process.

The calcine product from the roaster, cyclones, scrubbing tower and the electrostatic precipitator is added to the calcine quench. The calcine quench is added to a small milling circuit to remove any ‘frits’ that have occurred throughout the roasting process. No overall size reduction is targeted or expected. The mill discharge material is pumped through a set of cyclones with the overflow reporting to the thickener and the underflow returning to the mill. The thickener increases the density to 35% with the overflow reporting back to the process water pond.

“Whole of ore” (WOO) CIL is capable of taking ore from either of two sources. It can treat oxide material that has been milled but not presented to the flotation circuit for further treatment such as Qinlongtan material or Jinlonggou oxide material. It can also treat the flotation tails to extract any remaining cyanide recoverable gold.

The tanks are 8.0 m diameter by 8.5 m high. The calculated capacity is 3,838 m3 and consists of seven tanks of 548 m3 each. The flotation tails would flow through the circuit at a pulp density of 32% solids, which equates to a residence time of 17.7 hours. The whole of ore material would be split at 44.4% solids by the mill cyclones and this equates to a residence time of 24 hours.

In this circuit, slurry is added to the first tank and carbon is added to the last tank. The two materials pass counter currently with the carbon moving up the circuit to contact with the higher grade solution. Intertank screens stop carbon from travelling back down the leach train. An overhead crane will facilitate the removal of the screens for maintenance and routine cleaning and will allow maintenance of all tank top equipment including agitators. A spare intertank screen will also be provided. All tanks will be fitted with bypass facilities to allow any tank to be removed from service for agitator or screen maintenance.

Carbon is then moved from the first leach tank over a vibrating screen to a hopper containing loaded carbon. This carbon is then educted to the elution circuit.

Sodium cyanide solution will be metered into the leach tank via a circulating main and rotameter.

Carbon is educted from the two CIL circuits to the elution circuit for gold extraction. There are two hoppers of 10 m3 capacity for the two CIL circuits for storage of carbon. A 3% hydrochloric acid (HCl) solution is pumped into the base of these hoppers and this acid is recirculated for approximately 20 minutes. Transfer and fill operations will be controlled manually.

After completion of the elution process, the barren carbon will be transferred from the elution column to either a dewatering screen prior to entering the feed hopper of the horizontal carbon regeneration kiln or to the hopper immediately after the regeneration kiln. In the kiln feed hopper, any residual and interstitial water will be drained from the carbon before it enters the kiln. Kiln off gases will also be used to dry the carbon prior to entering the kiln.

The carbon will be heated to 650 to 750°C and held at this temperature for 15 minutes to allow thermal regeneration to occur. Regenerated carbon from the kiln will discharge onto a carbon sizing screen to remove undersize particles prior to entering the last adsorption tank (whichever circuit).

The electrowinning cells will contain alternate anodes and cathodes. The cathodes will consist of steel wool and will be removed manually. The anodes will be a stainless steel mat. Electrowinning will take approximately 14 to 16 hours. Circulation of the eluate solution will continue until the return solution is depleted of gold.