After two years of aggressive exploration, measured and indicated resources have jumped by 269% to 2.5 million ounces at Premier Gold Mines‘ (PG-T) 70%-owned Hardrock project near Geraldton in northwestern Ontario. Inferred resources have grown by 164% to 1.1 million ounces.
The updated estimate uses eleven identified mineralized domains to develop a combination potential open pit and underground mineral resource.
Breaking the resource down into resources for open pit and underground, Hardrock has measured and indicated resources in a potential open-pit mine, at a 0.5 gram gold per tonne cutoff grade, of 18.2 million tonnes grading 1.85 grams gold per tonne for 1.08 million oz. contained gold and an inferred resource of 937,000 tonnes grading 1.85 grams for 55,700 oz. contained gold.
In the underground portion of the project, measured and indicated resources at a 2 gram gold per tonne cutoff tally 12.85 million tonnes grading 4.57 grams gold for 1.89 million oz. contained gold and inferred resources of 9.15 million tonnes at 4.41 grams gold for 1.3 million oz. contained gold.
A Whittle-pit analysis suggests a strip ratio on Hardrock’s open-pit resource of 2.1:1.
The potential open-pit Kailey deposit resource – about 2 km north of the Hardrock deposit — is included in the new Hardrock estimate and contains 127,000 ounces of measured and indicated resources at a grade of 1.57 grams gold per tonne and 10,000 ounces of inferred resources at 1.48 grams gold. Kailey is near the site of former Little Long Lac gold mine and is a small, lower grade potential open-pit resource.
Hardrock, a joint venture with Goldstone Resources (GRC-T), is about 4 km south of Geraldton and hosts several past-producing mines which between 1938 and 1968 together turned out more than 3 million ounces of gold from depths primarily within 600 metres of surface. Underground resources are located proximal to and below the historic mine workings.
In 2010, Premier completed 114,000 metres of drilling at Hardrock on near surface and deeper zones. Many of these remain open for expansion. Currently eight drills are active on the property and the company says it sees “considerable upside” in the resource. This year Premier is planning a 70,000 metre drill program.
The company also plans to nail down permits for advanced exploration, which will include de-watering the historic mine workings and building an exploration ramp. The ramp will enable Premier to drill from underground in preparation for a preliminary economic assessment. New discoveries including the High-Grade North Zone and the F2 East Zone will be the focus of the underground drill program.
Hardrock is close to the Trans-Canada highway, the Trans-Canada pipeline, and major power lines.
At presstime in Toronto Premier as trading at $7.65 per share and over the last year has traded between a low of $3.85 per share (May 7 2010) and a high of $7.92 per share (Apr. 5 2011). The company has 104.2 million shares outstanding.
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