The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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Chairman: Stephen Lang
President and CEO: Tom Irwin
Chief Operating Officer: Karl Hanneman
International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. plans to invest roughly US$10 million to support a 2015 work program that includes metallurgical, field and engineering work aimed at optimizing the mine plan for its 20-million-ounce Livengood gold project in Interior Alaska.
Lying along the Elliot Highway about 70 miles northwest of Fairbanks, the Money Knob deposit at Livengood encompasses 15.7 million oz of gold in 802 million metric tons of indicated resources averaging 0.61 grams per metric ton gold; plus another 4.4 million oz of gold in 266 million metric tons of inferred resources averaging 0.52 g/t gold.
Utilizing these reserves, a feasibility study completed in 2013 anticipates a 100,000-ton-per-day mill churning out 8.1 million oz of gold over an initial 14-year mine life.
This comes to 577,600 ounces annually; and anticipates an average annual output of 698,500 oz of gold over the first five years of operation.
Since the completion of the feasibility study, Tower Hill has been investigating opportunities to lower the capital and operating expenditures for mining the large but low-grade deposit at Livengood.
Evaluating the ideal size for the mill - ranging from 11,250 to 90,000 metric tons per day - and steepening the pit slope in the early years are ideas under consideration.
Metallurgical studies that demonstrate the potential to improve head grade, however, has been a large focus of 2015 optimization work for the project.
This year's optimization work follows up on a 2014 program that included metallurgical; mine production scheduling; power supply alternatives; and alternative camp reviews.
Once defined, the operating costs generated from the 2014-2015 optimization studies will be used to evaluate and optimize the project configuration and capital costs, including determination of the ideal scale for the project.
In order to position Livengood for a construction decision when warranted by market conditions, environmental baseline studies continue at the project.
Cash and short-term deposits: US$9.5 million (June 30, 2015)
Working capital: US$9.4 million (June 30, 2015)
Market capitalization: US$37.8 million (Sept. 22, 2015)
506 Gaffney Road, Suite 200, Fairbanks, AK 99701
Tel: 907-328-2800 Fax: 907-328-2832
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