The new estimate was prepared by Micon International, which analyzed drill hole data from 16,000 metres drilling.
The total measured, indicated and inferred resource weighs in at 181 million tonnes grading 1.14 grams gold per tonne, or 6.6 million contained ounces. The measured and indicated portion of the resource is believed to be 125.9 million tonnes grading 1.2 grams gold, or 4.8 million contained ounces. These figures were calculated using a cutoff grade of 0.4 gram gold in order to reflect the operating costs of a proposed heap-leach/open-pit operation.
“These results clearly show the potential for further significant expansion,” says Eldorado President Paul Wright.
The recent reverse-circulation program, which spanned 29 holes, expanded the resource to the northeast and to the south. The deposit has not yet been closed off at depth.
Highlights are as follows:
– Hole 106 — 252 metres grading 2.11 grams gold per tonne, including 100 metres grading 3 grams gold;
– Hole 101 — 288 metres averaging 1.11 grams gold, including a 158-metre section that ran 1.57 grams gold;
– Hole 108 — 140 metres grading 1.5 grams gold, including an 80-metre section grading 1.8 grams gold;
– Hole 104 — 125 metres grading 0.64 gram gold, including a 32.5-metre section that assayed 1.25 grams gold;
– Hole 105 — 90 metres averaging 0.92 gram gold.
Holes 106, 101 and 108 all remain open at depth. Eldorado reports that these holes extended the higher-grade core of the deposit farther to the west. The core has also been expanded to the south, with higher grades encountered in holes 104 and 105.
The western margins of the deposit have been extended by hole 107, which cut 1.36 grams gold over 132 metres. To the east, hole 103 intersected 167 metres grading 1.05 grams gold.
Samples were prepared at Eldorado’s lab in Turkey and followed procedures laid out by Micon International. Sample pulps were sent to ALS Chemex Laboratories in Vancouver for gold fire assay with an atomic absorption finish. Check assays were carried out by Bondar Clegg Laboratories, also in Vancouver.
Based on previous resource estimates, Kisladag can support a 20,000-tonne-per-day heap-leach operation, with annual production pegged at 186,000 oz. gold at a cash cost of US$155 per oz. What’s more, preliminary pit optimization calculations based on the new resource model indicate a 2.1-million-oz. increase in production.
Eldorado plans to table a prefeasibility study for Kisladag by the end of January 2001. This will be followed by additional infill and extension drilling. The company’s environmental baseline study is expected to be completed by the end to the year and will be followed by an environmental impact study in 2001.
Meanwhile, Eldorado is evaluating the financial impact of processing concentrates from its Efemcukuru gold project, also in western Turkey, at the Kisladag facilities.
Efemcukuru is a 1.1-million-oz. resource which Eldorado hopes to transform into an 800-tonne-per-day underground operation, using gravity and flotation processing for gold recovery. Cash operating costs at Efemcukuru are projected at US$149 per oz., which would generate a pretax internal rate of return of 40.7% with a net present value of US$56.1 million (using a 5% discount rate). These calculations are based on an average annual production rate of 87,000 oz.
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