With a positive feasibility study in hand,
Unnamed financial institutions have already shown an interest in covering the project’s estimated US$28.3-million capital cost. The loans would be secured against hedged-production, thereby eliminating the company’s need to dilute its stock.
The joint in-house and independent study concludes that Bellavista can produce 60,000 oz. gold annually at a total cash cost of US$179 per oz. Proven and probable reserves of 11.24 million tonnes grading 1.54 grams gold per tonne are sufficient for just over seven years of production.
At peak performance, 5,745 tonnes of ore per day would be mined on surface, with the life-of-mine stripping ratio estimated at 1.32-to-1. Later this year, drilling will attempt to determine whether the pit walls can be steepened so as to reduce the amount of waste produced.
High-grade ore will be agglomerated with lower-grade material. So far, tests have indicated recovery rates in a 79% range, which leads Wheaton River to believe that about 436,000 oz. gold, as well as 721,000 oz. silver, can be produced over the life of the project.
The company based its estimates on a gold price of US$325 per oz., which would yield a pretax internal rate of return of 19% and a net present value of US$20.2 million (using a discount rate of 5%). By employing contract miners, Wheaton River could lower upfront costs by $5.4 million, though operating costs would rise as a result. Currently, the company intends to use its own mining fleet.
If developed, Bellavista would become Wheaton’s second open-pit heap-leach operation; the company currently pulls its gold from the seasonal Golden Bear mine in northern British Columbia, in which its owns an 87% interest. Golden Bear was the first British Columbian mine to employ heap-leach technology, and, in all the world, it is only the second to have done so successfully in cold climates. (The other is
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