Shore Gold (SGF-T) has started bulk sampling for a pre-feasibility study on production from the Star kimberlite in the Fort la Corne area of central Saskatchewan.
Star has set a $43-million budget for the work, which will define a reserve figure for the kimberlite and provide mine and mill designs, as well as furnishing baseline topographic, environmental and geotechnical information. It should take about two and a half years, though Star expects a final feasibility study to take less time once this work is done.
Contractors will mine a 10,000-tonne bulk sample for diamond recovery tests and grade estimation. There will also be large-diameter core drilling to provide bulk material for testing. Actual mineral processing should start in June once a large enough stockpile of test material has been mined. There is about 1,500 tonnes on surface at the moment.
Shore has built a small-scale dense-media-separation plant at Star to provide a concentrate, which will be sent to Lakefield SGS in Lakefield, Ont., for final diamond recovery. A third crusher is to be added to the plant to allow it to operate continuously.
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