NEW MINES ROUNDUP — Royal Oak forges ahead at Kemess

A recent US$120-million financing is enabling Royal Oak Mines (RYO-T) to complete construction of the Kemess gold-copper mine in north-central British Columbia.

The open-pit mine is scheduled to come on stream in May of this year and operate for 16 years. Once in full production, Kemess is expected to produce 250,000 oz. gold at an average cash cost of US$128 per oz., net of copper credits valued at US80cents per lb.

Undiluted minable reserves stand at 204 million tonnes grading 0.22% copper and 0.62 gram gold per tonne. Capital costs for the project will ring in at $470 million, almost 10% over budget, owing to escalating costs associated with the tailings dam and pipeline system.