Way cleared for Kensington

Vancouver — The U.S. Forest Service has cleared the way for all other federal and state permitting to begin on Coeur d’Alene Mines‘ (CDE-N) Kensington gold project, 45 miles north of Juneau, Alaska.

Coeur d’Alene, the world’s largest silver producer, expects to receive all necessary permitting for Kensington in the first quarter, in which case construction could begin as early as March.

Probable reserves, based on a gold price of US$375 per oz., are pegged at 4.2 million tonnes grading 0.25 oz. per ton, equivalent to more than 1 million oz. The estimate was calculated using a cutoff of 0.16 oz. gold per ton. Indicated reserves stand at 617,000 tons grading 0.436 oz. gold per ton, or 269,000 oz., using a cutoff of 0.12 oz., whereas the inferred resource is believed to be 2.5 million tons grading 0.234 oz. gold per ton, or 584,000 oz., using the same cutoff.

The mine is estimated to cost US$91.5 million, and annual production is projected to be 100,000 oz. gold at a cost of US$220 per oz. over 10-15 years. Startup is slated for 2006.

Kensington should enable Coeur d’Alene to boost its current gold production by 76%.