Taseko has a nice update in their most recent Q on their nearby and similar Florence project. Certainly a positive indicator for Excelsior once it gets going again:
The Production Test Facility (“PTF”) operated continuously without disruption during the second quarter of 2020. Steady state operation was achieved in 2019 and the focus turned to testing different wellfield operating strategies, including adjusting pumping rates, solution strength, flow direction, and the use of packers in recovery and injection wells to isolate different zones of the ore body. The operating team has used physical and operating control mechanisms to adjust solution chemistry and flow rates and has successfully achieved targeted copper concentration in solution. Pregnant leach solution (“PLS”) grade in the centre recovery well (most representative of the performance of the commercial wellfield) has been stable at roughly two grams per litre since November and in June and July the SX/EW plant produced at a rate of approximately one million pounds of copper cathode per year, mainly from the centre recovery well.
The PTF has provided valuable data to validate the Company’s modelled assumptions and operating parameters, andthisdataisbeingusedtorefineoperatingplansforthecommercialphase. Withalloftherequireddatainhand, we recently made the decision to wind down the production phase of the test facility and commence rinsing the small section of the orebody where the wellfield has been operating.
