Vancouver — A newly completed prefeasibility study envisions a 10,000-tonne-per-day operation cranking out 103,600 oz. gold annually at Eldorado Gold’s (ELD-T) Kisladag project in western Turkey.
“Receipt of the study is a major step forward for our company’s plan to progressively develop the project,” says Paul Wright, Eldorado’s president.
The study was completed by Kilborn Engineering Pacific in unison with Knight Piesold and Micron International. It places initial capital costs at US$47.4 million to generate an after-tax internal rate of return of 21%, based on a gold price of US$300 per oz., with a mine life of 11.5 years. A low strip ratio of 0.49-to-1 helps to produce gold for a respectable US$154 per oz.
Using proven and probable minable reserves of 39.7 million tonnes grading 1.44 grams gold per tonne, the project would be mined as a conventional open-pit, heap-leach gold mine using a loader and truck fleet for production. The processing facilities include a three-stage crushing circuit with conveyor transfer and radial stacking onto the heap-leach pad. Projected gold recoveries are slated to hit 80% for the oxide ore and 57% for the sulphide.
Late last year, Micon tabled a total resource of 181.4 million tonnes grading 1.14 grams (6.6 million contained ounces) for Kisladag, using a cutoff grade of 0.4 gram gold. The measured and indicated portion accounts for 126 million tonnes grading 1.2 grams per tonne, equivalent to 4.8 million oz. The deposit remains open at depth. Eldorado believes it could contain as much as 12 million oz. gold.
The company expects to resume definition drilling by June. It will also launch environmental impact work and complete additional metallurgical studies, leading up to a final feasibility study by the middle of 2002.
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