Following a positive feasibility study,
The planned operation, which comprises a group of small open pits and a heap-leach plant, is expected to produce an average of 36,000 oz. annually over four years. According to the feasibility study, Yamana needs only US$6.6 million to bring the project to production.
The three open pits exploit a reserve of 5.7 million tones grading 0.9 gram gold per tonne. Pit designs have an average stripping ratio of 0.99-to-1, and the pits would be mined at an annual rate of 1.5 million tonnes. The reserves are in rippable saprolite material, which would not require blasting.
Cash operating costs are estimated at US$175 per oz., with an additional US$11 per oz. for royalties and taxes. The feasibility study puts the undiscounted net present value of the project at US$15 million, based on cash flow from US$350-per-oz. gold; that falls to US$11.5 million at a 5% discount rate.
The planned metallurgical plant uses a crusher and agglomeration system (the largest cost element in the project is for cement used in agglomeration). The agglomerated ore would be leached once and the gold recovered from leachate using a carbon absorption-desorption circuit, atmospheric stripping, and electrowinning.
Designers estimate a 90-day leach cycle will recover 88% of the gold, though testing indicated higher recoveries over shorter leach cycles.
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