The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
H: TSX-V
President and CEO: Craig Michael Engelsman
Lucky Shot Project Manager:
William J. Burnett
With its sights set on becoming a junior gold producer in the first half of 2011, Harmony Gold Corp. has partnered with Full Metal Minerals Ltd. (see Full Metal Minerals) on the high-grade Lucky Shot gold property, about 145 kilometers, or 90 miles, north of Anchorage.
"I created Harmony Gold specifically to become one of the newest junior producers," Harmony Gold President and CEO Craig Michael Engelsman told Mining News. "If gold does go to US$2,000 an ounce you had better be pulling it out of the ground. These guys that are sitting on these big projects that would take at least three-to-five years just to get the development in, nonetheless the permitting and all the other issues, they could be missing the boat."
The original deal, forged in November 2009, provided the Vancouver B.C.-based junior the opportunity to earn a 60 percent stake in Lucky Shot.
In August the partners renegotiated the contract, giving Harmony the opportunity to up its stake in the high-grade gold deposit to 80 percent.
The best intercepts of more than 30,000 meters drilled by Full Metal at Lucky Shot have been at Coleman Zone, the westernmost of seven historically mined veins or faulted extensions of the same vein system on the 8,800-acre Lucky Shot property.
These intercepts include hole C05-09 over 3.1 meters grading 62.2 grams per metric ton gold, hole C05-12 over 4 meters grading 219.1 g/t gold and hole C06-16 over 4.6 meters grading 51.5 g/t gold.
Harmony estimates it will take nearly US$15 million in capital to begin commercial production at Lucky Shot.
Nearly US$9 million is being spent on driving a development ramp to high-grade gold ore at Coleman.
In order to tighten up the block model in preparation for driving the nearly 1-mile, or 1.5 kilometer, development ramp, a 26-hole density drill program was completed in November 2009.
The 4,300 meters of drilling provides a more concentrated look at the high-grade portion of the structure.
Once Harmony Gold drifts back to the Coleman Zone, it plans to extract a 12,000-metric-ton bulk sample, which it will run through a 240-ton-per-day mill with a gravity recovery circuit, purchased by Full Metal in 2008.
The bulk-sample is already permitted and construction of the mill is about 80 percent complete.
Harmony estimates an average recovery of 19 grams of gold per metric ton from the Coleman Zone.
Operating the mill at 95 percent capacity, the company foresees producing 44,000 ounces of gold per year.
Using these figures and US$1,000 per ounce gold, Lucky Shot would generate about US$44 million a year, roughly half of which would go toward operating costs.
Once the mill and Coleman mine are in operation Harmony plans on defining extensions of the Coleman vein as well as exploring other targets on the property.
Cash and short-term deposits: C$2.26 million (at March 31, 2010)
Working Capital: C$2.2 million (at March 11, 2010)
Market capitalization: C$5.51 million (at Sept. 7, 2010)
409 Granville St., Suite 1650
Vancouver, B.C. Canada V6C 1T2
Tel: (778) 370-0519 Fax: (604) 683-4499
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