The South Dakota Board of Minerals and Environment has unanimously approved a large-scale mine permit for the Clinton gold project, situated just east of the Wharf mine in the state’s Black Hills region.
Both Clinton and Wharf are wholly owned by Goldcorp (G-T).
Having already received a conditional-use permit from the Lawrence Cty.
board of commissioners in April, Goldcorp expects to be ready to begin construction in the third quarter.
The Clinton heap-leach project comprises several open-pit deposits. Reserves stand at 19.5 million tons grading 0.03 oz. gold per ton, for 647,000 contained ounces, which is sufficient to add more than 10 years to the life of the Wharf mine. Combined, the Wharf and Clinton deposits hold 1.28 million oz. gold.
Development costs for the project are pegged at US$3 million; this will cover prestripping and construction of access and haul roads, including an overpass separating local traffic from mine traffic. No new facilities need to be constructed because Clinton ore will be processed at the Wharf operation.
The company expects the Clinton project to increase gold production at Wharf by as much as 20%, reaching 120,000 oz. gold by 2000. This year’s production is expected to be 104,000 oz.
During the first quarter of 1998, the Wharf mine reduced its cash costs by 18% over first-quarter 1997 costs, to US$194 per oz., while gold production increased by 48% to 30,898 oz. Total operating costs were US$221 per oz.
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