Western seeks to expand Casino reserves

Western Copper and Gold Corp. June 3 announce the start of a roughly 10,000-meter drill program at its Casino copper-gold project in the Yukon.

According to a 2013 feasibility study, Casino hosts 4.5 billion pounds of copper and 8.9 million oz of gold in 1.1 billion metric tons of proven and probable reserves.

This is enough reserves to support a mine that would contribute C$9.6 billion to the Canadian economy and pay C$3.2 billion in taxes and royalties to federal, territorial, and First Nation governments over the initial 22-year mine-life contemplated in the feasibility study.

In addition to the reserves, the Casino deposit hosts 5.4 billion pounds of copper and 9 million oz of gold in 1.7 billion metric tons of inferred resources.

This year's program will target this inferred resource with in-fill drilling.

Upgraded inferred resources to the higher confidence indicated category would:

• increases the amount of material available to be converted to reserves in future economic studies, thus increasing projected mine life;

• potentially lowering the overall strip ratio by upgrading inferred resource mineralization, which was considered waste in the 2013 feasibility study; and

• provide more accurate quantities of ore and waste, which will allow for more detailed engineering of the tailings and mine waste facility outlined in a 2018 tailings study.

"We are excited to be drilling again at the Casino project and optimistic that the expected updated resource will take one of the largest, economic, copper-gold deposits located in one of the most mining friendly jurisdictions in the world – Yukon, Canada – and make it larger, more economic, and more robust," said Western Copper and Gold President and CEO Paul West-Sells.

–SHANE LASLEY