Cons Professor still waiting to build mine

The company says a gold price of more than $400(US) per oz is needed to make the project economically viable and that environmental approvals could be difficult to obtain since several groups are currently lobbying against development of the mine.

At the company’s annual meeting, President Richard Dunlop told shareholders: “We never expected the environmental permitting process would be an easy one. It will take time.”

The company recently submitted the first in a series of environmental applications to the Ontario ministries of Environment and Natural Resources. “Another 15-20 applications will be submitted during the next four months,” he said.

According to Dunlop, the submission of the initial application drew immediate reaction in Winnipeg where opposition to the proposed mining project has become especially strong.

A number of recent articles in Winnipeg newspapers have expressed concern over the project’s potential impact on Shoal Lake, which is part of the system supplying Winnipeg’s water. Cottage owners in the area also oppose the Shoal Lake gold project which is situated 50 km southwest of Kenora.

“We never expected that details of the application would be handed over to the Winnipeg news media by officials in Manitoba,” he said. “Our first application to the ministry has been unfortunately dramatized by the media.”

Consolidated Professor’s mine development plan calls for flotation milling of some 450 tonnes of ore per day on Stevens Island, situated in Shoal Lake. The milling process will produce a gold concentrate that will be transported to a mainland plant for further treatment and recovery of precious metals. Tailings disposal will occur at both the island and mainland facilities.

Financing plans for the proposed mine have to be finalized pending an improvement in the price of gold. Pre-production capital costs of $52.9 million is needed to build the mine and the company reports that it is discussing financing with several banks.

“Further talks with the banks have been deferred until the gold price improves,” said Dunlop.

Despite a deteriorated gold market and the sensitive environmental issues, the company remains optimistic that its Duport project will proceed to production when gold markets improve.

“This confidence is based on the success of metallurgical technology developed in the past few years, and the knowledge that the deposit’s grade is higher than the industry average for underground gold mines,” he said.

Geological reserves for Duport stand at two million tons averaging 0.35 oz gold per ton, including 960,000 tons at a grade of 0.38 oz in the “proven” and “probable” categories.

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