The Nuts & Bolts Of #Gold Feasibility Studies

The Nuts & Bolts Of  Gold Feasibility Studies

Geology Corner from The Northern Miner

Great Bear Resources employees study a drill map. Credit: Great Bear Resources.

Of the 123 global gold projects with completed feasibility studies or ones being worked on, 50 projects are orogenic deposits; 24 are epithermal deposit types, and eight are porphyry deposits, according to Glacier Resource Innovation Group's Mining Intelligence database.

The other deposit types are volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposit projects at 16; iron oxide copper gold at six; skarn at four; and intrusion-related deposits at one.

"The orogenic and epithermal deposits make up about 59% of the defined gold in the ground at the feasibility stage, and 41% are orogenic deposit types," says Katja Freitag, the manager of Mining Intelligence, a research and database owned by Glacier Resource Innovation Group. "Epithermal deposits generally have double the amount of gold in them than orogenic deposits and while porphyries are copper deposits, they are very significant when it comes to gold."

When analyzing the amount of gold resources in the measured and indicated categories of the 123 projects with feasibility studies, she added, orogenic deposits account for the lion's share (31%); followed by epithermal (28%); porphyries (22%); VMS deposits (6%); IOCG deposits (2%) and skarns (1%). In total the gold projects with feasibility studies contain about 186.8 million gold ounces.

Eight of the 24 epithermal deposits outlined in her study were in Chile and Mexico, and 27 of the orogenic deposits were in Canada and Australia, however "on average those in Canada seem to have significantly larger resources," she noted. Most of the porphyry deposits with feasibility studies were in the province of British Columbia.

Breaking it down by country, Freitag says, Canada comes out on top of the list of countries with the most gold contained in the measured and indicated resource category (66.2 million oz. gold), followed by Papua New Guinea (15.5 million oz. gold); Australia (13.4 million oz. gold); South Africa (12.3 million oz. gold) and Indonesia (12.0 million oz. gold).

The remaining countries in the top ten feature: Argentina (8.8 million oz. gold); Chile (7.1 million oz. gold); Senegal (5.2 million oz. gold); Sudan (4.8 million oz. gold); and Peru (4.7 million oz. gold).

https://www.northernminer.com/analysis/geology-corner-the-nuts-and-bolts-of-feasibility-studies-on-gold/1003826967/?ctname=Geology+Corner:+The+nuts+and+bolts+of+feasibility+studies+on+gold

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MasterMetals

@MasterMetals

Share of #Gold in #Russian #CentralBank’s reserves beats US #Dollar holdings for first time ever

© Global Look Press

The gold share of Russia's foreign exchange holdings rose to 22.9 percent over the year to June 30, 2020, according to data revealed by the country's central bank.

At the same time, the share of US dollar shrank to 22.2 percent from 24.2 percent, while the share of the euro dropped to 29.5 percent from 30.6 percent. The regulator also decreased its holdings of Chinese yuan to 12.2 percent from 13.2 percent.

See the whole story online here: https://www.rt.com/business/512219-gold-dollar-russian-reserves/

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MasterMetals

Roxgold Produces 133,940 Ounces Exceeding 2020 Guidance $ROXG

Roxgold Produces 133,940 Ounces Exceeding 2020 Guidance, Provides Outlook For 2021

2020 Highlights:

Operations

• Preliminary 2020 gold production of 133,940 ounces exceeded the Company’s annual consolidated production guidance of between 120,000 and 130,000 ounces
• Achieved record annual plant throughput of 512,276 tonnes, exceeding nameplate capacity by 27%
• Reported preliminary gold production of 35,191 ounces in Q4 2020
• Mined a record 149,347 tonnes in Q4 2020
• Continued management and mitigation of COVID-19 to minimize impacts on operations with reduced personnel due to travel restrictions and protection protocols

Financial

• Sold 135,310 ounces of gold for annual gold revenues totalling approximately $240 million
• Generated strong free cashflow (before growth spend)¹ of over $47 million increasing our cash balance from $41.8 million to approximately $61.7 million² as of December 31, 2020
• Strong balance sheet with a net cash position of over $26 million as of December 31, 2020 (cash balance of approximately $61.7 million² and long-term debt face value balance of $35.6 million²)

Growth

• Received Exploitation (mining) permit and Environmental approvals from the government of Côte d’Ivoire to develop and operate the Séguéla Gold Project (“Séguéla”)
• Expanded Séguéla Project with discovery of the Koula deposit and an updated Mineral Resource estimate outlining total indicated mineral resources of 1,044,000 ounces of gold at 2.5 grams per tonne (“g/t”) and inferred mineral resources of 370,000 ounces at 4.8 g/t
• Initiated early works at Séguéla to enable a rapid ramp up to full construction later this year following completion of the Feasibility Study which is anticipated for completion in the second quarter of this year

2020 Preliminary Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year Key Metrics

		Q1 2020		Q2 2020		Q3 2020		Q4 2020		2020
Ore mined		134,472		112,523		109,767		149,347		506,109
Ore processed (tonnes)		125,879		127,309		131,029		128,059		512,276
Ore processed (tpd)		1,383		1,399		1,424		1,392		1,400
Head grade (g/t)		8.7		8.2		7.7		9.3		8.5
Recovery (%)		97.9		98.0		98.2		98.2		98.1
Gold ounces produced		32,380		32,812		33,557		35,191		133,940
Gold ounces sold		30,126		36,279		30,401		38,504		135,310
Gold sales ($000s)		$48,045		$62,107		$57,379		$72,158		$239,689
Average realized selling price (per ounce)		$1,595		$1,712		$1,887		$1,874		$1,771

“Looking ahead, the pace of progress at Roxgold continues to accelerate, as we announced last month that we broke ground at the Séguéla Gold Project in Côte d’Ivoire, following receipt of the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment and Exploitation permits. The goal of pouring first gold from Séguéla next year is within our reach with early works at Séguéla already initiated to enable a rapid ramp up to full construction following completion of the Feasibility Study in the second quarter of this year. We currently have four drills turning at Séguéla and are eager to share with the market the results of the program which has been focusing on extension and infill drilling at Koula and the continued scout testing of the extensive portfolio of targets within our land package.”

2021 Operating Outlook

	2021
Production (oz)	120,000 – 130,000
Cash operating cost ($/oz produced)3	$580 – $640
All-in sustaining cost ($/oz sold)3	$895 – $975
Sustaining capital spend (included in AISC)	$25 - $30 million
Non-sustaining capital spend	$5 - $10 million
Growth spend (includes exploration and Séguéla study spend)	$15 - $20 million

Roxgold anticipates the Yaramoko Mine Complex will produce between 120,000 and 130,000 ounces in 2021 with cash operating costs3 of $580–640/oz and all-in sustaining costs (“AISC”)4 of $895–975/oz. 

Sustaining capital is expected to decline this year compared to 2020 due to the completion of decline development at Bagassi South, allowing the operation to focus on stoping operations. 

The higher gold price increased the impact of royalties by approximately $30/oz.

See the whole news release here and here on Stockwatch