Inmet ups reserve at Troilus (March 28, 2003)

Additional drilling and re-assessment of the operating conditions at the Troilus gold mine in north-central Quebec have extended the life of the mine a further four years, says owner Inmet Mining (IMN-T).

The new reserve, based on drilling up to the end of 2002, is 42.5 million tonnes grading 0.9 gram gold per tonne, with 0.09% copper. Reserves at year-end in 2001, less the material mined in 2002, amounted to 22.6 million tonnes grading 0.9 gram gold and 0.1% copper.

The Troilus open pit’s stripping ratio rises marginally, to 1.3:1, while the life-of-mine cash cost has been revised downward by US$5, to US$240 per oz.

Part of the new reserve comes from a satellite zone, J-4, drilled off in an area 1 km away from the main pit. Test mining of 800,000 tonnes from the J-4 area has confirmed the zone’s grade and the recovery rate Inmet can expect from J-4 ore.

The lower cash cost, and a slight increase in gold recoveries, stem largely from a mill expansion that has brought the daily throughput rate to 16,000 tonnes, up from 10,000. At those production rates, the mine has reserves to last until 2010.