First Dynasty ups Dublin Gulch reserves

Vancouver-based First Dynasty Mines (FDM-T) reports that reserves at its Dublin Gulch project in the Yukon have exceeded 1 million oz. gold.

Based on 1996 drill results, reserves for the Eagle sulphide zone stand at 50.3 million tonnes grading 0.93 gram gold per tonne (equivalent to 1.5 million contained ounces).

These reserves are contained in a designed open pit with a stripping ratio of 0.8-to-1. Included in the waste rock is an additional inferred resource of 7.7 million tonnes grading 0.75 gram gold, which the company will attempt to bump up to the proven and probable category through further drilling.

An independent consultant is completing a feasibility study, which is based on a production rate of 100,000 oz. per year at a gold price of US$400 per oz. Ore will be processed using heap-leach technology.

The Eagle zone is a porphyry deposit of sheeted, quartz-vein mineralization in a Cretaceous, granodiorite stock. It remains open both at depth and along strike to the west, and, according to First Dynasty, has an overall resource potential of more than 3 million oz. gold.

Dublin Gulch was discovered in 1991 by Ivanhoe Goldfields, which subsequently optioned it to Amax Gold. In 1994, the property was returned to Ivanhoe, which, two years later, became a wholly owned subsidiary of First Dynasty.

Since the initial discovery, 183 holes, comprising 31,700 metres, have been drilled into the deposit.

The property also contains the Shamrock, Olive and Steiner zones, which are geologically similar to the Eagle zone. To date, the company has tested these zones through stream-sediment and chip sampling, as well as trenching and limited drilling. Future programs will concentrate on identifying economic mineralization.