Production at the Duck Pond base metals deposit, near Buchans, Nfld., should start in late 2006 following a production decision by
The operation will exploit the larger Duck Pond deposit from a decline ramp and the smaller Boundary deposit from an open pit. Both mines will feed a single flotation plant. The capital cost of the project is estimated to be $92 million.
The project has a reserve of 4.1 million tonnes grading 3.29% copper and 5.68% zinc, plus 0.9 gram gold and 59 grams silver per tonne. About 400,000 tonnes of the reserve are in Boundary.
About 1.1 million tonnes of inferred resources, grading 3.04% copper, 7.05% zinc, 0.8 gram gold and 71 grams silver per tonne, are expected to be converted to reserves. Reserves and resources together offer about nine years of mine life.
Ore would be mined at the daily rate of 1,800 tonnes, with annual production pegged at 18,600 tonnes copper, 34,500 tonnes zinc, 536,000 oz. silver and 4,100 oz. gold. The cash cost of producing one tonne of copper is expected to be US$880, after credits for the other metals.
Aur also announced that its reserve drilling program at the Quebrada Blanca copper mine in Chile had increased reserves by 38.6 million tonnes.
The project now has 225 million tonnes in proven and probable reserves, with an average grade of 0.74% copper. That includes a heap-leachable reserve of 97 million tonnes at 1.1% copper (0.95% soluble copper) and a dump-leachable reserve of 128 million tonnes grading 0.47% copper (or 0.29% soluble copper).
The new figure includes a 15-million-tonne reserve that will have been mined by year-end.
Aur has extended Quebrada Blanca’s mine life to 2016, based on the increased reserve estimate, and now expects total production to exceed 900,000 tonnes copper.
Aur owns a 76.5% equity interest in Quebrada Blanca, with the rest held by Chilean company Minera Pudahuel and by the Chilean government agency Empresa Nacional de Minera (Enami).
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