Fury Explorations upgrades resource at Taylor

Fury Explorations (FUR-V, FURXF-O) says a new resource estimate for its open-pit silver mine project near Ely, Nev., bodes well for the startup of production, scheduled for the fourth quarter of next year.

The new numbers not only confirm historical resource figures at the Taylor mine, but categorize more than 88% of the resource within the measured and indicated categories.

Fury reported an updated measured and indicated mineral resource of 14.9 million oz. silver contained in 6.43 million tons of ore, grading an average of 2.31 oz. silver per ton based on a 1.2-oz.-per-ton cutoff.

The new resource estimate also defined an additional inferred mineral resource of 1.9 million oz. silver contained in 757,000 tons grading 2.54 oz. silver per ton.

The latest resource estimate did not include the high-grade assays that the company has reported over the last several months, however.

“If those had been included, I think the resource estimate would have come back closer to eighteen- to twenty-million ounces silver,” says Andrew McCarthy, Fury’s vice-president of corporate development.

When Fury Explorations purchased the Taylor project in 2006, it came with a historical measured resource estimate of 16 million oz. silver — or 5.92 million tons grading 2.7 oz. silver per ton.

That estimate was provided in 1999 by the mine’s previous operator, Alta Gold, using extensive technical data and economic parameters. But it was not completed according to the standards of National Instrument 43-101.

Fury notes that the Taylor project has also had other good news in recent months. For one thing, the amount of cyanide that will be required will be one-tenth the amount that was used at the mine historically, based on newer metallurgical techniques. Also, ore was previously ground much finer than necessary. McCarthy points out that Fury expects recoveries to be in the 90%-range, much higher than the 70% achieved by the mine’s previous operators.

Sporadic underground mining occurred from the late 1800s through to 1979, when Alta Gold launched an open-pit operation. But weakened metal prices brought an end to mining in 1991.

The deposit averages about 15 metres in thickness and is near surface (average overburden of less than 10 metres). A similar tonnage shell of lower-grade silver mineralization surrounds the deposit.

The Taylor mine complex contains primary and secondary crushers, eight ball mills, a flotation circuit, a leaching and filter circuit, maintenance shop, an assay office, an electrical substation and a mine office. The capacity of the milling facility is expected to be about 1,300 tons per day or about 455,000 tons per year.

The mill has a replacement value of $68 million and the mine is expected to produce over a 13-year period.

In Toronto, Fury shares closed at 55 a share on the news, down 1.79% on trading volume of 92,000.

McCarthy says to see the company’s stock waffling at that level is frustrating. With $6.25 million dollars in the bank and only 27 million shares outstanding, “that breaks out to 23 cents per share, and today we are only trading at 55 cents per share,” he says. “One analyst thought the stock should be trading at closer to two dollars apiece last year — and that was before we went to the 43-101 standard.”