Vancouver — The board of
The proposed operation is expected to produce 75,000-100,000 oz. gold annually. Mining should start in 2005, with full commercial production of 350 tonnes per day slated for the second quarter of 2006.
Permits from local authorities are in hand. The capital costs associated with underground development, equipment, surface facilities, and road and power-line construction have yet to be determined. However, they are expected to be low, given that Hecla has decided not to build a mill. Instead, ore will be trucked 70 miles to the wholly owned La Camorra mine. Now Hecla’s largest gold operation, Camorra produced 37,547 oz. gold in the first quarter at an average cost of US$142 per oz.
Cash production costs at Mina Isidora are expected to range between US$150 and US$185 per oz. in the first five years, with mining expected to last until at least 2012.
Ore will be mined using ramp access from the Valle Norte portal site. The deposit has a shallow dip (42-47) and occurs in quartz veins, hosted in volcanic and intrusive rocks.
At the end of 2003, proven and probable reserves were estimated to contain 327,303 oz. gold, but recent drilling has boosted this figure by 29% to 421,234 oz. Total minable resources at year-end stood at 932,000 tons grading 0.59 oz. gold per ton. The deposit is still open down-plunge to the southwest. The property hosts numerous exploration targets along a geological structure where previous drill holes returned ore-grade mineralization. Other targets include extensions of former producers in the historic mining camp.
Hecla’s board also approved a plan to spend US$3.4 million to advance the Noche Buena project in northern Sonora state, Mexico. The funds will be used for resource definition drilling and to complete a bankable feasibility study.
The drill program will be completed by the end of the second quarter of 2005, and Hecla will then decide whether or not to build a low-grade, heap-leach operation.
At last report, the project hosted an indicated and inferred resource of 11.7 million tons grading 0.03 oz. per ton, and Hecla says there is “potential to double that in the near future.”
Meanwhile, in central Mexico, Hecla is identifying exploration targets on its large land position in a historic silver mining camp near Durango.
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