Vancouver A little more than a year ago, Placer Dome (PDG-T) wrote off as unprofitable its Getchell mine in Nevada to the tune of US$292 million. Today, the major is planning to restart the operation in hopes of producing 350,000 oz of gold a year starting in 2004.
Placer Dome, which suspended gold mining at Getchell in 1999, has already started mini-scale underground mining and aims to ramp up operations over the next 18 months.
At the time of the write down, Placer’s Chief Executive Officer, Jay Taylor said, "We were disappointed in our findings at Getchell, while this is a very large gold system with 15 million oz of resources identified, the ground conditions are difficult and the mine’s economics at today’s gold prices do not meet our criteria for further investment.”
Placer went on and sold Getchell’s stockpiled ore to Newmont Mining (NEM-N).
During its latest quarterly report, the company stated that test mining is underway at the Getchell mine, where the company is looking to expand its knowledge of the North zone. The identification of some “very high-grade zones” rejuvenated the interest in putting Getchell back into production.
The major posted a third-quarter net profit of US$28 million or US$0.08 per share, compared to a loss of US$211 million or US$0.65 per share a year earlier.
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