The Queensway Gold Project will use a two-phase processing approach, beginning with toll milling of high-grade material and transitioning to a new 7,000 tpd on-site plant that combines crushing, grinding, gravity concentration, flotation, and carbon-in-leach circuits.
The Queensway Gold Project, located in Newfoundland, Canada, is planned as a two-phase processing operation. In the first phase, spanning years 1 through 5 of the life of mine, mineralized material will be mined from the Keats and Iceberg zones. High-grade material will be crushed and hauled to a third-party mill for treatment, while lower-grade material will be stockpiled near the location of a future on-site processing plant. This approach allows for revenue generation prior to and during construction of the new plant and provides mined-out pits into which tailings from the future processing plant will be deposited.
In the second phase, covering years 5 through 15, ROM and stockpiled material will be processed in the new Queensway processing plant. The plant is designed for a throughput capacity of 7,000 tpd and incorporates single-stage jaw crushing, SAG and ball mill grinding, gravity concentration, flotation, and carbon-in-leach circuits. The flowsheet is designed to produce a saleable sulphide concentrate and doré bars.
Critical Data
| Parameter | Value | Unit | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plant throughput (Phase 2) | 7,000 | tpd | Design capacity |
| Plant throughput (Phase 2) | 2,555,000 | tpa | Design capacity |
| Crusher utilization | 75 | % | |
| Grinding, flotation, and CIL utilization | 92 | % | |
| SMC Axb (25th percentile) | 59.4 | – | |
| Bond Ball Mill Work Index (75th percentile) | 18.4 | kWh/t | |
| Grinding product size (P80) | 75 | µm | |
| Rougher flotation retention time | 30 | min | |
| Cleaner stages | 2 | No. | Column cells |
| Concentrate mass (average) | 4.2 | % of plant feed | |
| Leach pre-aeration retention time | 6 | h | |
| CIL retention time | 36 | h | |
| Toll mill throughput (Phase 1) | 700 | tpd | Third-party mill |
| Primary crusher rate | 389 | tph | Jaw crusher |
| Grinding media consumption | 1.8 | kg/t | |
| Sodium cyanide consumption | 0.95 | kg/t | |
| Lime consumption | 2.55 | kg/t | |
| Oxygen consumption | 0.9 | kg/t | |
| Collector consumption | 0.15 | kg/t | |
| Frother consumption | 0.05 | kg/t | |
| Depressant consumption | 0.12 | kg/t | |
| Sodium metabisulphite consumption | 1.0 | kg/t | |
| Copper sulphate consumption | 0.15 | kg/t | |
| Flocculant consumption | 0.06 | kg/t | |
| Diesel (mobile equipment, excluding mining) | 125 | kL/a | |
| Fresh water requirement | 100 | m³/h | Anticipated less than this value |
Overview
The PEA is based on a two-phase approach to processing. Phase 1 involves toll milling of high-grade material from the Keats and Iceberg zones at a third-party mill at 700 tpd. ROM material will be crushed at Queensway before being trucked to the toll mill. The toll mill will use a conventional grind-gravity concentration-CIL flowsheet to produce doré bars. Tailings will be deposited in an adjacent existing, permitted tailings management facility. The toll mill is expected to be modified to add a gravity concentration and intensive leach circuit, convert the existing leach circuit to CIL, and upgrade the gold recovery circuit and gold room.
Phase 2 involves construction of a new on-site processing plant during years 3 and 4 of the LOM, with commissioning and ramp-up during year 5. The plant will process ROM and stockpiled material at 7,000 tpd through crushing, SAG and ball mill grinding, gravity concentration, flotation, and CIL circuits.
Key Process Stages
Crushing consists of a single-stage jaw crusher. ROM material will be hauled from the mine or stockpiles and tipped into the crusher dump hopper. A fixed hydraulic rock breaker will break oversize rocks that do not pass through the static grizzly. Material will be reclaimed by a vibrating grizzly screen and crushed by the primary jaw crusher at 389 tph. Combined undersize and crushed material will be conveyed to a covered stockpile.
Grinding uses a SAG mill followed by a ball mill, with the possibility of adding a pebble crusher. The target grind product size is 75 µm P80. Trommel undersize from the SAG mill discharges into the cyclone feed pump box, and cyclone overflow gravitates to the flotation circuit via a trash screen.
The gravity recovery circuit comprises one centrifugal concentrator and an intensive leach reactor (ILR). The ILR pregnant leach solution is pumped to the gold room where gold is recovered using a dedicated electrowinning cell and melted to produce doré bars.
Flotation of gravity concentration tails produces a sulphide concentrate containing gold for sale. Rougher flotation uses conventional forced-air tank cells. A two-stage cleaner flotation circuit uses column cells or other appropriate flotation technology to produce a saleable gold-containing sulphide concentrate. Cleaner tailings are combined with rougher tails. The concentrate is thickened and filtered to approximately 8% moisture and loaded into lined containers for shipping.
The CIL circuit consists of a pre-leach thickener, pre-aeration tank, and six leaching tanks, plus carbon elution and regeneration equipment. Circuit feed consists of flotation tails thickened to between 50% and 55% solids by weight. Dewatered barren carbon from the stripping column is reactivated in an electric rotary kiln.
Additional Interesting Data and Summary
The flotation step may be bypassed when processing material low in arsenic, though this option requires additional investigation during subsequent study phases. Process water is recycled from the flotation tails thickener and concentrate thickener overflows to a process water tank. Tailings thickener overflow is also re-used as process water.
Reagent and consumable consumptions are based on exploratory test work completed to date and comparable projects, with further definition and optimization planned during future test work. Make-up water requirements will depend largely on how much water can be recycled from in-pit tailings disposal. Fresh water requirements are anticipated to be less than approximately 100 m³/h.
Electrical energy will be sourced from the provincial grid, with consumption estimated from preliminary major equipment motor sizes plus an allowance for smaller equipment.
Key Processes
- Single-stage jaw crushing with hydraulic rock breaker and vibrating grizzly screen
- SAG mill followed by ball mill grinding with optional pebble crusher
- Gravity concentration using centrifugal concentrator and intensive leach reactor
- Conventional forced-air tank cell rougher flotation with two-stage column cell cleaning
- Carbon-in-leach (CIL) with pre-leach thickening, pre-aeration, six leach tanks, carbon elution and regeneration
- Electrowinning for doré bar production
- Filtered concentrate production at approximately 8% moisture for shipping
- In-pit tailings disposal with process water recycling
- Potential flotation bypass for low-arsenic material (requires further investigation)
Source: Queensway Gold Project , 2025 Technical Report, 2025. Project website: New Found Gold Corp.
Project website: Queensway Gold Project, 2025 Technical Report
