Vancouver-based
The mill is scheduled to reach design capacity by the end of September, less than a month after Bema began processing ore. Under a revised mine plan, Julietta will now operate at the daily rate of 400 tonnes, instead of 350 tonnes as first planned. This will reduce the original 5-year plan to four years, as based on currently defined proven and probable reserves of 538,446 tonnes grading 24.7 grams gold and 407.5 grams silver per tonne, or 426,700 oz. gold and 7.1 million oz. silver.
The new plan calls for mining of some of the more profitable ore early in the mine life. In the first year of production, Julietta is expected to produce 140,000 oz. gold and 2.4 million oz. silver at a cash operating cost of US$25 per oz. (net of silver credits). Total cash costs, including taxes and royalties, are pegged at US$70 per oz.
Julietta is expected to produce an average of 100,000 oz. gold and 1.7 million oz. silver per year over the four years at a cash cost of US$56 per oz. and a total cost of US$100 per oz.
Beyond the initial four years of minable reserves, the mine has additional inferred resources of 492,000 tonnes grading 19.5 grams gold and 342 grams silver, equivalent to 309,000 oz. gold and 5.4 million oz. silver. Upgrading the inferred category could extend the mine life by another four years.
Underground drilling to upgrade the resource and further explore the existing veins, which remain open along strike and to depth, will soon get under way.
The Julietta mine was put into operation at an estimated cost of US$45 million, of which US$35 million was financed through project loans. Bema expects to repay these loans within 20 months, assuming a gold price of US$285 per oz.
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