Vancouver — A feasibility study prepared for
The Toronto-based company holds rights to Las Cristinas, a bulk-tonnage gold deposit in Venezuela’s Kilometre 88 district, through a 2002 mine operating agreement with Corporacion Venezolana de Guayana (CVG). The state-owned entity has already approved a base-case study for a 20,000-tonne-per-day operation sized to produce 266,000 oz. annually over a mine life of 34 years, including 311,000 oz. in each of the first five years.
Crystallex President Todd Bruce says the initial study remains the planned option but notes that the new study demonstrates that economics of the base case “can be improved materially by establishing a larger-scale operation straightaway, if the marketplace were to support the financing of such an operation.”
Capital costs for an expanded operation would rise to US$365 million from US$243 million, though a larger operation would be less sensitive to increases in the price of steel.
Average gold production would be 490,000 oz. over a mine life of 20 years, with annual production of 549,000 oz. in the first five years. Cash costs with royalties would be US$193 per oz. for an expanded operation, compared with US$197 for the base-case.
Assuming financing and necessary permits are in hand by the end of this year, Crystallex anticipates it could achieve commercial production by the first quarter of 2006.
In the meantime, infill drilling is under way in an effort to convert inferred resources in the proposed pit to the indicated category. Las Cristinas has measured and indicated resources of 439 million tonnes at 1.09 grams gold, or about 15.3 million contained ounces.
Vancouver-based
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