Equal partners Battle Mountain Gold (BMG-N) and Normandy Mining intend to develop the Vera-Nancy project near the Pajingo complex in Queensland, Australia.
The projected capital cost of US$40 million includes mine development and infrastructure, as well as upgrading of the processing plant at Pajingo.
The proposal calls for development of a 165-ft.-deep open pit at the Vera deposit and later, underground mining of the Vera North and Nancy veins.
Additional access will be gained as a result of recently depleted underground workings on the Cindy vein. Drifting on this decline began in July.
Mining at the Vera pit is expected to begin in September and end in December.
Underground mining at Nancy would begin before year-end, with full production anticipated by the summer of 1997. Normandy would be the operator.
At full production, the Pajingo mill is expected to process 245,000 tons annually at a grade of 0.41 oz. gold per ton, equivalent to 100,000 oz. per year. (Material from the Vera open-pit would be relatively lower in grade.) The Vera-Nancy deposit contains 1 million oz. gold, most of which exists below 650 ft. The deposit is still open below 1,300 ft. Additional exploration at depth will be carried out as underground mining progresses.
In other news, Battle Mountain is in discussions to buy those shares of its 50.4%-owned subsidiary, Niugini Mining, that it does not already own. Niugini operates the Red Dome gold mine in Queensland and the San Cristobal gold mine in northern Chile, and owns a 17% interest in the Lihir gold project in Papua New Guinea.
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