Olympus ships first Bong Mieu dor

Olympus Pacific Minerals (OYM-V) has exported the first dor bar from its 80%-owned Bong Mieu gold mine in central Vietnam. The bar is headed to a refinery in Mendrisio, Switzerland where it will be refined into 99.999% gold.

The company is currently working to optimize the plant’s performance, and plans to similar monthly dor shipments.

Following a planned month or two of fine-tuning, Olympus will up start processing high-grade stockpile material to capitalize on the current buoyant gold price and generate some early cash flow.

Based on a gold price of US$450 per oz., net operating profits are expected to exceed the previously estimated US$350,000 per month. Most of the profits will be sunk back into exploration drilling aimed at expanding resources and exploring around the Bong Mieu and Phuoc Son properties.

Bong Mieu began commercial production late last year. The project comprises three known gold deposits: Ho Gan, Ho Ray and Nui Kem.

Ho Gan is home to a proven and probable reserve of 858,000 tonnes running 2.42 grams gold per tonne, for 66,550 contained ounces. Ho Ray is home to a historical open-pit measured and indicated resource totalling 878,000 tonnes of 1.90 gram gold, while underground resources at Nui Kem weigh in at 216,700 tonnes of 6.51 grams gold.

Looking ahead, Olympus plans to expand Bong Mieu’s 500-tonne-per-day processing plant to 800 tonnes per day during the second half of the year.

The company has also begun looking at the possibility of a high-grade underground mining phase at Bong Mieu. Underground ore would be blended with open-pit ore resulting in a substantially higher feed grade. The plan would require a further expansion of the plant.