Placer boosts Cortez

Vancouver — Placer Dome (PDG-T) has doubled the measured and indicated resource at its 60% owned Cortez Hills discovery in Nevada.

"Cortez Hills is shaping up to be the most significant Nevada discovery in recent years," says Placer’s CEO, Jay Taylor. "It holds the potential to sustain and extend production at Cortez well into the next decade."

Discovered on April 29, 2003, Cortez Hills now holds a measured resource of 10 million tonnes grading 4.05 grams gold per tonne, using a 0.14 gram gold cut-off grade. The indicated resource stands at 28.5 million tonnes grading 3.5 grams gold. The latest calculation boosts the contained gold to 4.5 million ozs, from 2.1 million oz.

Not included in the contained gold calculation is another 17.3 million tonnes grading 1.85 grams gold that lies in the inferred category.

Six rigs continue to turn on the deposit, which lies 12 km southeast of the Pipeline-South Pipeline deposit and 0.8 km north of the Pediment deposit, in an effort to further expand and delineate the new discovery, which remains open along strike and to the west.

At the main Cortez operation, Placer has lowered cash and total cost projections for 2003, which are now expected to hit US$130 and US$170 per oz, respectively. Kennecott Explorations (Australia) holds the other 40% of the project.