Vancouver — The Kupol gold-silver project in the Chukotka region of northeastern Russia has received a positive preliminary economic assessment,
The company plans to develop Kupol as a high-grade gold-silver operation and is earning a 75% interest from the government of Chukotka.
A preliminary indicated resource of 2.6 million tonnes grading 22.3 grams gold and 232 grams silver per tonne (1.8 million oz. gold and 19.1 million oz. silver) has been identified. There is also an inferred resource of 7.2 million tonnes of 18.4 grams gold and 243 grams silver (4.2 million oz. gold and 55.9 million oz. silver).
Plans call for an initial 12-year mine life with both open pit and underground operations. Preproduction capital costs are estimated at US$280.1 million.
The study recommends a 4,300 tonne-per-day open pit operation in years one and two, during which time 3,200 tonnes per day would be processed, with lower-grade material stockpiled. Beginning in the third year and lasting to the end of the seventh, Bema Gold would operate a combined open pit-underground-stockpile operation at the daily rate of 3,200 tonnes. Production would decrease in years 8-12 to 2,200 tonnes per day, from underground mining.
Further drilling is required to upgrade the preliminary inferred resource figure to reserve status. Toward this end, Bema has initiated a 57,000-metre program of infill drilling and testing of the Kupol vein structure northward and at depth. The company envisages an aircraft runway, surface preparation for processing facilities, and procurement of equipment for construction in 2005.
Kupol is an epithermal vein system up to 30 metres wide which hosts high-grade gold and silver mineralization. The system has been defined over 4 km of strike length and remains open along strike and at depth.
Bema produces gold from its 79%-owned Julietta mine in northeastern Russia and the wholly owned Petrex mines in South Africa. The company also holds a half-interest in the Refugio gold mine and a 24% stake in the Cerro Casale gold-copper project, both of which are in northern Chile.
Bema Gold has 356.6 million shares issued and outstanding.
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