08:34 AM EDT, 04/11/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Collective Mining Ltd. ( CNLMF ) on Thursday reported "robust" results from metallurgical flotation test work on Apollo porphyry system within its Guayabales project in Colombia.

The company said a representative sulfide sample from Apollo returned commercial concentrate grades of up to 30.5% copper, 1,280 grams per tonne (g/t) silver and 28.7 g/t gold with low levels of deleterious elements.

The test also showed that Apollo sulphide ore with greater than 0.15% in situ copper grade is "very amenable to flotation".

Meanwhile, the lock cycle tests achieved recoveries of up to 95.3% for copper, 83.6% for silver and 79.4% for gold.

Among other highlights: Detailed mineralogical studies of the Apollo system highlight a "relatively simple copper sulphide assemblage hosting predominately chalcopyrite with lesser chalcocite, both of which are very amenable to flotation". Also, preliminary gravity test work on a 25 kg sample grading 0.44% tungsten returned a 74% recovery rate for tungsten to a concentrate of 63.6% scheelite. Additional test work will be undertaken to further upgrade the overall recovery rate for tungsten.

"Apollo flotation results are exceptional by world standards and demonstrate excellent recoveries and very commercial concentrate grades encompassed within a small volume of concentrate material," said John Wells, a metallurgical consultant to Collective Mining ( CNLMF ).

"This work and the previous bottle roll cyanidation results highlight that Apollo has simple metallurgy which will enable straightforward process plant design. Finally, the gravity work on the scheelite concentrate has also demonstrated that tungsten can be easily recovered from a simple gravity separation process," Wells added.

The company saw its share rise 1.3% yesterday although the broader market was lower.