Cambior, Golden Star beef up Gross Rosebel in Suriname

New calculations have expanded the mineral reserve at the Gross Rosebel gold property in east-central Suriname to 24 million tonnes grading 1.4 grams gold per tonne, and partners Cambior (TSE) and Golden Star Resources (TSE) expect to have a prefeasibility study ready in the next few weeks.

The 170-sq.-km property contains five known gold deposits, with reserves ranging from 1.1 million to 7.5 million tonnes; each deposit would be developed as a separate open pit. About 86% of the total reserve is in deeply weathered saprolite or laterite; the remainder, about 3.5 million tonnes, is in hard rock.

The new reserve estimate is based on 37.5 km of diamond drilling in 420 holes, 25 km of auger drilling in more than 4,000 holes, and 14 km of trenches. Another 33 km of drilling are scheduled for the rest of 1996 in the hope that new mining reserves can be blocked out. The partners will be testing lateral and depth extensions of the five deposits and evaluating three new exploration targets on the property.

There is also a possibility that the largest of the five deposits, Pay Caro, has potential as an underground operation. Mineralized intersections below the provisional pit limits have returned grades as high as 16.7 grams gold per tonne over 3 metres, and longer intersections with grades in the 8-to-10-gram range.

The partners have a budget of US$5.5 million to complete the drilling and a feasibility study, which should be ready by the end of the year. The feasibility study will include an environmental impact assessment for submission to the government of Suriname for final approval of production. Under the joint-venture agreement, Cambior must fund another US$2.5 million on the project, which would be repaid from future cash flow.