With its site selection permit approved and government support secured,
Through its wholly owned Turkish subsidiary, Tuprag Metal Madencilik (Tuprag), Eldorado holds a 100% interest in the 4,283-ha project, which consists of one pre-operating licence and one exploration licence.
Based on work completed to date, Eldorado has established the existence of a large, low-grade, bulk-tonnage gold deposit that hosts a measured, indicated and inferred resource of 73.9 million tonnes grading 1.43 grams gold per tonne, or 3.4 million contained ounces.
The site selection permit outlines an area that will accommodate open-pit mining operations and related infrastructure. Next, the Vancouver-based junior must complete an environmental impact assessment (EIA) certificate and submit it to the ministry of the environment. The ministry, in turn, will submit the document to regulatory agencies and other ministries for approval–a process that could take up to seven months.
Currently, Eldorado is collecting data for a baseline environmental study, while continuing to carry out metallurgical tests and definition drilling. Results from this work will be incorporated into a prefeasibility study, due in the fourth quarter.
Next, the company will perform an additional 1,200 metres of surface trenching on the western extension of the deposit plus 400 metres of short-hole percussion drilling to test the oxide zone. A 7,000-metre program of infill drilling is also planned.
Eldorado expects to receive its EIA certificate by the third quarter of 2001 and begin its final feasibility study in the following quarter of the same year. The final construction and operating permits should be in hand by the second quarter of 2002, with late 2003 projected as the startup date.
Eldorado has gained the support of government representatives at various levels. This support is, in part, a response to the company’s commitment to a establish a “provincial foundation,” which is designed to provide direct benefits to local communities. Signatories from the Usak province include the provincial governor, the federal deputy and local mayors.
Kisladag is accessible via paved roads that service several small villages in the immediate area. Economic activity in the area consists of a mixture of subsistence farming and grazing. The climate in the region is arid with hot summers and cold winters. Annual rainfall is about 460 mm, which occurs mainly in the winter months, from November to May.
The Kisladag project is in a zone of pervasive alteration within a volcanic complex. The deposit was initially discovered in 1997, when a strong geochemical anomaly led to the identification of a zone of extensive mineralization covering an area measuring 1,000-by-600 metres. The target was also broadly defined by an extensive induced-polarization chargeability anomaly. Follow-up work, consisting of extensive trenching and 6,500 metres of drilling, defined a zone that extends from the surface to a depth of 250 metres. The deposit remains open at depth.
“Geologically, we have an andesitic crystal tuff that has been intruded by a micro-diorite which forms a low-grade, almost barren core,” says David Bickford, general manager of Tuprag. “Mineralization is hosted mostly in the crystal tuffs, though it does extend into the margins of the micro diorite, and most of the reserves are hosted in the crystal tuffs on the flanks of the micro diorite.”
The deposit is bounded to the east by a fault zone. Across the fault zone lies a fragmental tuff that appears to be a down-dropped block. This fault block has yet to be tested at depth. In all other directions, gold mineralization tapers off as one moves farther from the micro-diorite core.
Overlapping calderas
The measured and indicated portion of the resource hosts 2.05 million oz. gold in 42.8 million tonnes of material grading 1.49 grams gold, whereas the inferred category holds an additional 1.35 million oz. gold in 31.1 million tonnes of material grading 1.35 grams gold. The resource estimate was prepared by Micon International using a cutoff grade of 0.8 gram gold.
The Kisladag deposit is hosted in an andesitic-to-dacitic Tertiary-aged volcanic complex formed by two partially overlapping calderas. Kisladag is in the older of the two strato-volcanoes, whereas Sayacic, a second, less explored prospect, is 6 km to the southwest, in the younger Beydag volcano.
Gold mineralization on the property is interpreted to be a stockwork, veined, porphyry-style system. Mineralization is associated with clay-sericite potassium-feldspar alteration of andesitic tuffs and volcanic breccias. An arcuate gold zone, 600 metres long and up to 150 metres thick, wraps around a weakly mineralized micro-diorite stock. This micro-diorite forms an oval-shaped plug that measures 300 by 175 metres. Silicification in the tuff and breccias occurs as irregular patches fed by thin stockwork veinlets. Surface oxidation varies from 15 metres below the surface on the northwestern side of the deposit to 90 metres on the eastern and southwestern sides. The oxidized portion represents about 20% of the deposit.
Eldorado says it is encouraged by preliminary metallurgical tests that evaluated the amenability of the ore to both cyanide leach and floatation recovery processes. Direct cyanidation of representative oxide and sulphide samples returned recoveries ranging from 95% in the oxide to 84% in the sulphide material. Floatation tests determined that recoveries to concentrate ranged from 78 to 86%.
Cyanidation
Recently, the state research institute Tubitak completed a report that deems the cyanidation process to be safe. Cyanide is imported into the country for use at the state-run Gumuskoy silver mine, as well as for other industrial uses.
Turkey comprises 782,000 sq. km (slightly larger than Texas) and consists of 80 provinces. At last count, the country had a population of 65.5 million, the largest cities being Istanbul (9.2 million), Ankara (3.7 million) and Izmir (3.1 million). About half the population live in coastal regions, with the remainder settled in the interior and eastern regions.
In December 1999, at the Helsinki Summit, Turkey was accepted as a candidate country to the European Union. There are currently 13 candidate states vying for membership. To win acceptance, Turkey will be required to stimulate and support numerous fiscal and tax reforms as well as privatize government-controlled assets and services.
At present, the service sector of the economy represents 57% of the gross domestic product (GDP), while industry and agriculture represent 28% and 14%, respectively. Mining represents 1%.
Turkey’s mining industry produces copper, lead and zinc, with minimal amounts of silver. This, however, does not cover the country’s demand for base metals, and it therefore has to import them.
Turkey’s major exports include textiles, foodstuffs, iron and steel products, ceramics, marble and borate products. The European Union is the nation’s main trading partner, accounting for 55% of total exports and 50% of imports.
One cloud that darkens Turkey’s investment climate is its inflation rates, which at present stand at about 35%.
Be the first to comment on "Eldorado keen on advancing Kisladag"