Consolidated Professor needs $47 million to bu ild gold mine

A positive feasibility study has been received by Consolidated Professor Mines (TSE) for the company’s 100%-owned Duport gold project. Completed by the consulting firm of Wright Engineers, the report “concludes with a strong recommendation to place the Duport property in production as soon as possible,” G. R. Cunningham- Dunlop, president of Professor, told shareholders at the company’s annual meeting.

Capital costs for the project are estimated at $47 million. Cunningham-Dunlop said the company is reviewing all its financing options, including possible joint ventures with major companies. Conwest Exploration (TSE) is the largest shareholder, holding an 18.1% interest. Conwest has funded exploration by taking down Professor shares on a flow-through basis in the past.

Located 30 miles southwest of Kenora, Ont., the Duport deposit is under Shoal Lake, an arm of Lake of the Woods. According to the Wright study, a mineable reserve of 902,400 tons grading 0.35 oz gold per ton is available. This is part of a large mineral inventory of more than two million tons grading 0.35 oz gold per ton. The mineable reserve calculation includes a dilution factor and is limited to the 1,050-ft level.

The company says the weighted average width of all reserve blocks in 7.4 ft with individual zones varying from four to 25 ft.

Cunningham-Dunlop noted that more than two-thirds of the deposit strike length remains to be drill tested below the 900-ft level. “I suggest there is a potential for up to four million tons.”

The feasibility study utilizes a $450(US) per oz gold price. At a mining rate of 150,000 tons per year (450 tons per day), the operation is expected to yield an average of 50,000 oz of gold per year during its 6-year life. Including total reserves on the property, the operating life can be extended to 12 years.

“Some of the possible reserves have a high degree of confidence,” Cunningham-Dunlop noted. “A 12-year period is expected, we’re quite confident of that.”

Mining beyond a 12-year period would require the excavation on a shaft below the 1,000-ft level.

Arsenic in the ore will be treated by pressure oxidation as opposed to the original plan to employ a roasting process. A pilot plant test is in progress. Pressure oxidation is expected to improve gold recoveries by more than 5% to 98%.

The move to pressure oxidation is expected to remove certain environmental concerns which have burdened the project for years. Roasting posed a potential threat to Lake of the Woods and would have emitted noxious fumes into the air.

The Duport project has been developed over a long period. Professor took an option on the property in 1973 and later acquired its 100% interest. It has been involved in three joint ventures on the property from 1981 to 1986.