Vancouver — The rising price of bullion has prompted
A prefeasibility study is in progress, and the company intends to have the full feasibility study in hand by August. Engineering firm SNC-Lavalin will perform the necessary work and propose a schedule for returning the mine to production. SNC-Lavalin will also investigate the open-pit potential of the mineralization surrounding the higher-grade zones.
“The completion of a bankable feasibility will give DSM the framework within which to reactivate the Jacobina mine,” states President Stan Bharti. “Construction and re-development could begin as early as 2004.”
Jacobina cranked out 700,000 oz. gold from 1983 to 1998, and a 1-million-tonne-per-year processing plant is on site. Situated at the southern end of the Bahia gold belt, the property hosts a measured and indicated resource of 15 million tonnes grading 2.87 grams gold per tonne, plus an inferred resource of 23 million tonnes averaging 3.1 grams gold.
A preliminary scoping study indicates that at a gold price of US$300 per oz., the mine could produce 73,000 oz. gold per year at a cash cost of US$188 per oz. Startup expenditures are pegged at US$16 million.
Desert Sun recently completed a first round of drilling, and the results show a broad zone of low-grade, potentially minable material over a strike length of 10 km.
A second round of drilling is under way.
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