Gold output slips at Albino mine in Venezuela

Delays in mill modifications are taking their toll on 1996 production levels at the Albino gold mine in Venezuela.

Vancouver-based Crystallex International (KRY-T) reports that the open-pit mine is expected to produce less than half the amount of gold it yielded in 1995.

Last year, the mine cranked out 16,391 oz. gold at at cash production cost of US$123 per oz.

“The figure to date for 1996 is 4,200 oz., and it should be 7,000 for the year,” Crystallex President Marc Oppenheimer says.

The cash cost for 1996 was not available, though Oppenheimer estimates that during the first six months of the year the figure was about $240 per oz., owing to reduced volume.

However, with modifications now complete, the mill is capable of producing more than 300 tons per day, compared with previous levels of 140 tons.

The Albino mine is adjacent to the Las Cristinas and Brisas del Cuyani concessions of Placer Dome (PDG-T) and Gold Reserve (GLR-T), respectively.

Together, these deposits contain more than 20 million oz. gold.

Institutional financing to the tune of $21 million was raised in June, though mill modifications were finished several months behind schedule.

A diamond drill program comprising at least 40,000 ft. began in late July and will continue until early December, then resume in January.

Two drill drigs are operating 20 hours per day, seven days a week. Of the 24 holes drilled to date, all have encountered shear zone mineralization.

Crystallex plans to drill 40 holes in total. To date, the program has outlined a 2,000-ft.-long shear zone, open in both directions, containing two high-grade oreshoots with grades ranging from from 0.1 to more than 1 oz.

gold per ton over economic widths.