Besra Gold, a Canadian gold mining company, has produced its first gold concentrate at its Bau Gold Project in East Malaysia.

This is part of its obligation under the gold purchase agreement with Quantum Metal Recovery.

It was achieved within the 31 December 2023 deadline, as per the agreement ratified by Besra shareholders in July this year.

Bulk samples for gold concentrate production were randomly collected from the Jugan Project site within the Bau goldfield.

These samples were processed at a third-party facility selected to handle the refractory gold mineralisation similar to Jugan’s and to replicate the Jugan Pilot Plant’s treatment characteristics.

The processing facility was also selected due to its design compatibility with Jugan’s refractory gold mineralisation.

Besra’s technical personnel had supervised the processing and it was conducted in batches to prevent contamination with other ores.

The processing, which was divided into two stages, included an initial processing of 1.3 tonnes of bulk samples, sufficient for ‘bench-scale’ testing,

In this phase, several treatment cycles and reagent combinations were used to determine gold recovery rates and arsenic content.

The results were claimed to have been consistent with previous trials and the 2013 feasibility study, despite the higher-grade mineralisation found in the samples.

Following the bench-scale tests, an additional 4-5 tonnes of Jugan bulk samples were sent for Stage 2 processing, which will use the sequence established in Stage 1. The results of this next phase are expected to be announced next month.

The Bau goldfield is claimed to be a world-class gold project with history of mining. Besra owns a 97.8% stake in the project.

Geologically, it shares several attributes with Carlin trend in Nevada in the US.

It has several deposits and established gold resources of more than 3 million ounces.