Hope Bay partners increase resource (January 15, 2002)

Joint venture partners Hope Bay Gold (HGC-T) and Miramar Mining (MAE-T) have updated the resource estimate on their Hope Bay gold project in western Nunavut, following drill programs through 2001. The new resource figure for the project’s three deposits — Boston, Doris, and Madrid — is 10 million tonnes grading 13.3 grams gold per tonne.

Drilling to the south of the Boston deposit increased the measured and indicated resource on that deposit to 1.4 million tonnes grading 15.4 grams gold per tonne. Boston, which is made up of four zones, B-2, B-3, and B-4, has an additional inferred resource of 2.6 million tonnes grading 10.9 grams.

At Madrid, the measured and indicated resource now stands at 1.1 million tonnes running 10.3 grams. Two new discoveries in the Madrid area, the Naartok and Suluk zones, bumped the deposit’s inferred resource to 2.5 million tonnes at a grade of 11.8 grams per tonne, over and above the measured and indicated figure.

Some indicated resources at the Doris deposit were downgraded into the inferred category, reflecting ongoing economic studies on the deposit’s Hinge Zone. The measured and indicated resource at Doris is now 887,000 tonnes grading 21.5 grams gold per tonne, with an additional inferred resource of 1.7 million tonnes grading 15 grams.

Results of a preliminary economic assessment of the project, concentrating on the possilibity of developing the Doris Hinge Zone on its own, are expected in February. The partners are examining the feasibility of open pit and underground bulk mining on the Hinge Zone, at a 600-tonne daily rate.