Buffalo Gold boasts 425,000 oz. gold at Furtei mine

Buffalo Gold (BUF-V) has released its first resource estimate for the Furtei gold mine in Sardinia, Italy, where gold production is already underway.

Measured and indicated resources from the sulphide ore total 5.7 million tonnes grading 2.31 grams gold per tonne for 425,800 oz. gold.

Inferred resources stand at 350,700 tonnes grading 2.03 grams gold per tonne for 22,900 oz. gold.

The resource is based on 1,568 drill holes and 1,034 trench samples completed between 1990 and 2004 spread across 11 deposits on the property. Most of the resource comes from the gold-copper and gold-pyrite sulphide mineralization.

Buffalo acquired Furtei in October of last year through a friendly merger with Sargold Resources. Since then, the company has produced more than 1,000 oz. gold from the Sa Perrima open pit at its carbon-in-leach facility. Buffalo also produces a gold-copper-pyrite concentrate using the flotation plant with ore from the Sa Perrima and Su Masoni open pits.

Buffalo has an off-take agreement with Zug, Switzerland-based MRI Trading AG for gold and copper concentrate produced at Furtei during 2008 for up to 5,000 tonnes. The length of the agreement can be extended.

Buffalo expects to begin underground production late this year when the company aims to have finished a feasibility study on the underground targets. The study will include an updated mine plan and capital and operating costs for the project.

Metallurgical test work is being done for the feasibility study. The company reported a higher than usual grade in the first hole it drilled in the Su Coru ore body, which returned a 74-metre intersection grading 7.07 grams gold per tonne and 1.6% copper. The average grade in for the resource of that section was 3.77 grams gold per tonne and 1.05% copper.

An exploration drill program is also underway with more than 1,600 metres of diamond drilling and 650 metres of reverse circulation drilling done so far, of an eventual 3,250 metres. The first set of assay results is expected within the next month.