After a long and hard uphill battle, Viceroy Resources (TSE) is finally celebrating its first gold pour at its 75% owned Castle Mountain open pit heap leach project in San Bernardino Cty., Calif.
Viceroy poured a 450-oz. gold bar on Feb. 17, almost four years later than anticipated by original projections in 1987.
The project faced considerable opposition from environmental groups, but after jumping through countless hoops, received full permits in October, 1990. The project is expected to be operating at capacity shortly and at full production is expected to produce 100,000 oz. gold per year at a cash cost of US$180-212 per oz.
Proven and probable reserves at the mine are estimated at 24.6 million tons grading 0.047 oz. gold.
The reserve figure does not include possible reserves of about 13.5 million tons grading 0.046 oz. gold or the recent high-grade discovery about 3,500 ft. southeast of the Lesley Ann deposit.
Seven holes intersected a new zone over a strike length of 500 ft., returning a weighted average grade of 0.14 oz. gold over an average thickness of 460 ft. Additional drilling on the zone is continuing.
Viceroy reported working capital of $8.5 million at year-end and has just over 20 million shares outstanding on a fully diluted basis.
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