The open-pit operation will target Zone B, which has a resource of about 641,358 tonnes averaging 3.5 grams gold per tonne.
Mined material will be trucked 36 km to an existing carbon-in-column mill; the throughput rate is pegged at 800 tonnes per day over an initial project life of 2.5 years; average cash costs are estimated to be US$176 per oz.; the recovery rate is 71%, though metallurgical tests may improve this; and the after-tax internal rate of return is 35.6%, based on a gold price of US$260 per oz.
Operating costs are expected to total US$1.2 million.
A 1996 evaluation placed Zone A’s inferred resource at 5.5 million tonnes running 1.38 grams gold. Exploration by
Further work on Zone A and neighbouring areas will follow additional exploration and metallurgical tests for a bankable feasibility study on Zone B.
IMS can earn up to a 45% interest in the project by contributing the processing plant and heap-leach pads.
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