Final feasibility for Fachinal expected by May

By May, Coeur d’Alene Mines (NYSE) expects to have a final feasibility study in hand for its Fachinal gold-silver project in southern Chile.

The company bought Fachinal and six other Chilean precious metal properties for US$5 million in 1990. Since then, US$15.8 million has been spent to develop the project, not including the US$3.3 million spent last year to confirm reserve levels and complete capital and operating cost estimates. More than 60 veins in four zones have been identified on the Fachinal property to date, most of which are not fully explored. Recent work has focused on the Laguna Verde area, a potential open-pit target, and the Temer zone where an underground gold-silver vein system has been investigated. Underground and surface minable reserves are reported as totaling 4.1 million tons containing 318,000 oz. gold and 14.6 million oz. silver. A production decision will be considered once the feasibility study by Flour Daniel Wright is complete.