Titan Minerals (ASX:TTM) said that initial metallurgical test work on sulfide ore from the Dynasty gold project in Ecuador demonstrated that conventional extraction processes can achieve overall recoveries of 91% for gold and silver, according to a Wednesday Australian bourse filing.

Oxidation by autoclave and cyanidation recovered 97% of the gold in concentrate, while silver recoveries can be enhanced with additional calcination.

It showed that with the addition of flotation and oxidation stages to a plant designed to process oxide ores, a streamlined continuous process flowsheet may be established for all ore domains.

It has also highlighted an opportunity to produce an intermediary concentrate with a grade of around 24 grams per tonne grade of gold and around 180 g/t grade of silver from higher-grade ores from a cleaner concentrate stage. This concentrate can be sold directly to third-party smelters.

Testing also revealed areas where recoveries can be enhanced with process optimization.