Seabridge examines options for Grassy Mountain

Toronto-based Seabridge Gold (sea-t) is continuing efforts to advance its wholly owned Grassy Mountain gold project in Malheur County, Oregon.The work program is aimed at updating geologic and resource models for the deposit by adding assay results from 39 holes that were never included in the database.The company is also re-logging core from 202 previously drilled holes in order to better evaluate the geology of the deposit, with a view to assessing its potential for both open-pit and underground mining scenarios.Grassy Mountain was initially conceived as a large, open-pit, heap-leach project. The 1990 feasibility study that examined this scenario was based on a measured and indicated resource of 17.2 million tons grading 0.06 oz. gold per ton.A subsequent study by another engineering firm examined a potential underground mine, based on a diluted, measured and indicated resource of 1.56 million tons grading 0.26 oz. gold per ton. This study estimated a 5-year mine life with production averaging 77,426 oz. annually, at an average cash cost of US$173 per oz (and total costs, including capital, of US$325 per oz.) This study noted potential to boost resources and recommended that more exploration be carried out to better define and confirm the nature of the high-grade core of the deposit.Seabridge cautions that these historic studies cannot be used to support a reserve calculation at this time. It notes that more engineering studies are required to update capital and operating costs, as well as other issues, before the project’s resources can be classified as reserves. Toward that end, the company intends to redefine the economic potential of both mining scenarios this year, and choose the appropriate path for ongoing work. Environmental studies and a review of permitting issues are also planned.Meanwhile, Seabridge has work programs under way at its other gold projects, including a 10,000-metre drilling program at its wholly owned Courageous Lake project in Canada’s Northwest Territories.This year’s program at Courageous Lake is focused on four target zones that are considered to have bulk-tonnage potential. An engineering study is also under way, focused on the FAT deposit, which contains a measured and indicated resource of 48 million tonnes grading 2.06 grams gold per tonne, plus an additional 65.1 million tonnes of 2.07 grams in the inferred category. A key component of this year’s work program is to further evaluate processing options for the deposit’s refractory mineralization.