Gold Bar has lowered its confirmed and possible reserve estimate following the transition of mining operations to a brand new deposit. Courtesy of McEwen Mining.
McEwen Mining has launched an up to date feasibility examine for its Gold Bar mine, positioned in central Nevada, that reveals a drop in gold reserves and web current worth in comparison with earlier estimates.
In its 2018 This fall outcomes, previous to the start of business manufacturing on the mine, the corporate estimated its confirmed and possible mineral useful resource at 430,000 recoverable gold ounces from 18.1 million tonnes grading at 0.82 grams per tonne. Nonetheless, the brand new feasibility examine now experiences a brand new possible useful resource estimate of 302,000 ounces of gold from 17.2 million tonnes of ore at a grade of 0.84 grams per tonne is predicted to be produced.
By means of Dec. 2020, following profitable mining on the Cabin Creek pits, the mine reached 58,600 gold ounces in whole manufacturing. Nonetheless, the corporate reported throughout its 2019 fourth quarter report of the probability of a discrepancy with its 2018 reserve estimates after transitioning its mining operations to the Gold Choose West pit from the Cabin Creek pit, which resulted in decrease ore tonnes and gold grade returns due to “higher structural management of the mineralization than was beforehand anticipated.”
The mix resulted in a 16 per cent web discount between the 2020 and 2018 possible reserve estimates. In keeping with the corporate, this is because of adjustments that wanted to be made to the geologic mannequin and metallurgical restoration of the mine, in addition to the inclusion of extra drilling data and better gold costs.
With the intention to full the feasibility examine, the miner dedicated to drilling an extra 11,500 toes at its Gold Choose, Gold Bar South and Gold Ridge deposit websites, carried out additional metallurgical testing and employed specialists within the discipline of heap leach know-how to evaluation ore processing and supply suggestions.
The feasibility examine, revealed on Feb. 22, additionally reveals that the mine can have an estimated after-tax web current worth of US$55.2 million with an eight per cent low cost price, assuming costs of US$1,500 per ounce of gold. This represents a distinction from the mine’s 2018 earlier web current worth, which assessed the mine to be price between US$62 and US$76 million at an eight per cent low cost on the similar gold worth.
Moreover, the mine is estimated to have an all-in sustaining value (AISC) of US$1,213 per ounce of gold shifting ahead, decrease than its most up-to-date third quarter 2020 AISC of US$1,585 per ounce. The mine is estimated to have a six-year mine life, with 2027 as its final 12 months of manufacturing.
