Suppliers News (December 08, 2006)

SRK to find out age, cost of Aquarius

Consulting firm SRK will produce the bankable feasibility study at St Andrew Goldfields‘ (SAS-T) Aquarius gold project near Timmins, Ont.

SRK will be responsible for the technical elements – things like reserve estimates, mine design, mine plan and financial models — of the study, and any other contractors working on the study will report to SRK.

One such contractor, U.K.-based GBM Minerals Engineering Consultants, will handle processing and infrastructure, and other contractors will be appointed to address geotechnical, hydrogeological and environmental and permitting aspects of the project.

In related news, Mike Kolin, the principal mine engineer with Colorado-based Gustavson Associates, was appointed St Andrew’s project manager and will be the point man and liaison between SRK and the other contractors.

St Andrew acquired the Aquarius deposit, with its existing plant infrastructure and equipment, from Kinross Gold (K-T) in exchange for shares and warrants that resulted in an almost 12% stake in St Andrew.

The Aquarius deposit consists of nine mining leases covering 53 sq. km. The company plans to integrate an open-pit mine and 7,500-tonne-per-day mill at Aquarius with its Stock Twp. gold mill, about 15 km away, and two smaller-tonnage underground deposits, Clavos and Taylor, which would feed the Stock mill.

Aquarius is positioned along a large regional esker that acts as a major groundwater aquifer, and groundwater inflows, particularly in the glacial tills, sands and gravels that overlie the deposit pose a major obstacle to development.

The NI 43-101-compliant indicated resource at Aquarius measures 23.1 million tonnes grading 1.49 grams gold per tonne for 1.106 contained ounces at gold price of US$500 per oz. The inferred resource is 502,000 tonnes at 0.83 gram gold or 14,000 oz.

Now-defunct Echo Bay Mines drilled Aquarius in 1995 in an effort to boost the size of the deposit. Kinross later acquired Aquarius in February 2003 through a merger with Echo Bay Mines and TVX Gold.

Formed in 1974, SRK Consulting now employs about 600 staff internationally in 31 offices on 6 continents.

New Gold goes with Cementation for underground work

New Gold (NGD-T, NGD-N) has settled on North Bay, Ont.-based Cementation Canada as its underground mining contractor at the New Afton copper-gold project, near Kamloops, B.C.

Underground mining at New Afton has been divided into two phases. In the first phase, which has already started, Cementation is working with New Gold’s project team to finish the feasibility study by the end of this month.

The study will likely be available to the public sometime in March 2007.

The second stage will see Cementation provide the management and employees needed to finish development and reach production.

New Gold president and CEO Chris Bradbrook says underground development is the most time-sensitive part of construction and that his company needed to speed it up.

Bradbrook says the fact that Cementation could start work immediately helped the company win the contract. New Gold says a number of mining contractors competed in the bidding process.

In other news, a draft mine permit application was recently submitted to the B.C government and is being reviewed. If accepted, it will then be subject to another 60-day review.

Cementation Canada specializes in underground mine development, construction and operation. Its clients include Diavik Diamonds Mines, Goldcorp (G-T, GG-N), CVRD-Inco, and Xstrata Copper.

Dorr-Oliver Eimco cells headed for Mexico

Montreal-based Groupe Laperriere & Verreault (GLV.A-T) says its processing subsidiary Dorr-Oliver Eimco was awarded a contract worth almost $15 million for a gold and silver project in Mexico.

Later this month, Dorr-Oliver Eimco will supply a major metallurgical flotation system consisting of 53 flotation cells of all shapes and sizes.

The order includes 22 WEMCO 257-cubic-metre flotation cells which are among the largest such machines being made.

“It attests to GL&V’s position as a world-class provider of high-performance metals and minerals processing solutions, a booming sector in several regions of the world,” says Richard Verreault, president and COO of GL&V.

Founded in 1975, GL&V produces liquid/solid separation technologies used in a large number of industries. Dorr-Oliver Eimco offers a number of liquid/solid separation techniques for metal and minerals processing.