After four years of work and thousands of metres of drilling, Ecuadorian Minerals (EMC-T) has completed the prefeasibility study of the Gaby gold porphyry in Ecuador.
Central to the document is the preliminary minable reserve of 2.18 million oz. gold found within 89.8 million tonnes of material grading 0.75 gram gold per tonne. The tonnage also contains 4.6 million oz. silver.
The study determined a gold recovery of 89.2%, which would result in 1.9 million oz. gold. Silver recovery is expected to be 50%.
Ecuadorian envisions an open-pit operation capable of mining 20,000 tonnes per day, or 7.2 million tonnes per year, over a 13-year mine life. The stripping ratio is pegged at 1.3-To-1.
The operation would produce 147,000 oz. gold on an annual basis, though, during the first four years, the company expects to produce 178,000 oz. The Gaby will utilize conventional milling and a carbon-in-leach circuit.
Construction and development costs are estimated to total US$152 million, including the mining fleet and a 24-MW power station. Operating costs are projected at US$256 per oz., including silver credits.
Recent drilling in the western side of the deposit, which remains open, intersected a 96-Metre interval grading 1.2 grams gold. Drilling is under way at the high-grade Tama zone, and deeper drilling is planned on the main Gaby deposit.
Ecuadorian plans to begin the final feasibility study as soon as possible.
The final document is expected by late summer 1998.
Be the first to comment on "Ecuadorian completes Gaby study"