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VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwire) -- 02/21/13 -- Argentex Mining Corporation (TSX VENTURE: ATX)(OTCQB: AGXMF) ("Argentex" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the results of preliminary metallurgical testing at the Company's 100%-owned Pinguino Silver-Gold Project, located in Santa Cruz province, Argentina.
Highlights include:-- Preliminary heap leach column test work on the oxide samples indicated silver recoveries up to 81% and gold recoveries up to 69% with leaching times of up to 45 days. Silver and gold were still leaching when the tests were terminated, suggesting the potential for recoveries to increase with longer leaching periods.-- Bottle roll test work on oxide samples indicated recoveries up to 95% for silver and up to 94% for gold.-- Flotation of Marta Este and Marta Centro sulphide vein materials resulted in good deportment of the lead and zinc to the respective concentrates at potentially saleable grades.
"The results of our first round of metallurgical testing at Pinguino are promising. We anticipate that future process optimization studies will improve recovery efficiencies and cost reduction benefits," commented Mike Brown, President and CEO of Argentex. "We view these results as another milestone toward the continued advancement of the Pinguino project."
Pinguino Metallurgical Summary
Metallurgical test work was undertaken on five veins of oxide mineralization and two veins of sulphide mineralization. Samples were selected based on assay and other information. Flotation and cyanidation testing was completed by ALS-G&T at Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada on drill hole samples, with the heap leach column testing completed by ALS-AMMTEC in Australia on oxide samples from surface trenches.
Preliminary Flotation and Cyanidation Testing
The flotation test results showed non-optimized silver, lead and zinc metal recoveries from Marta Este and Centro sulphides as shown in the table below. Based on the preliminary nature of the test work there appears to be scope for further optimization.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Grade Recovery ------------------------- --------------------------- Pb Zn Au Ag Pb Zn Au AgVein/Material Stream % % g/t g/t % % % %---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Feed 2.54% 2.06% 0.45 203 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%Marta Este Pb Conc 67.1% 7.9% 0.19 3,010 90.5% 7.9% 19.4% 50.8% Zn Conc 1.7% 53.5% 0.24 693 2.0% 78.1% 1.6% 10.3%---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Feed 1.73% 5.65% 0.38 53 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%Marta Centro Pb Conc 61.20% 5.18% 1.27 1090 86.8% 2.2% 8.2% 50.2% Zn Conc 0.57% 55.80% 0.06 124 2.7% 79.7% 1.2% 18.8%----------------------------------------------------------------------------
