Brewery Creek Mine study due Q1 2020

Golden Predator Mining Corp. Nov. 14 announced that it plans to have a feasibility study completed for the initial phase of its plan to restart gold production at the Brewery Creek gold mine by the first quarter of next year.

Located about a 45-minute drive east of Dawson City, Yukon, Brewery Creek is the site of an open-pit, heap-leach mine that produced 277,170 ounces of gold over a seven-year span beginning in 1996.

Viceroy Resource Corp., which established the mine, opted to wind down operations and place Brewery Creek on care and maintenance in 2002 due to the low gold price of the time.

Golden Predator, which later acquired Brewery Creek, has recently ramped up efforts to restart operations at the shuttered mine.

Phase one of this plan envisions the reprocessing of the original heap leach pad where, according to Viceroy's records, roughly 10 million metric tons of run-of-mine ore averaging 1.5 grams per metric ton gold was placed on the heap leach pad. This comes to 525,094 oz of gold stacked on the pad, meaning somewhere around 247,924 oz of gold remain for recovery from further processing.

Kappes, Cassiday & Associates, a mine engineering and metallurgical firm known for its heap leach expertise, is completing the feasibility for Golden Predator's planned first phase of mining at Brewery Creek, which will involve reprocessing this material.

This highly detailed analysis will focus solely on remediating and reprocessing the heap leach pad as a means of fast-tracking revenue for Golden Predator and development of the site for mining.

The junior mining company said the study will include a project implementation schedule, sourcing, and economic cash flow model sufficiently detailed to move directly into procurement, development and operations.

"The best way to begin implementing our three-phase program and create value for our shareholders in the short term is to complete the feasibility study by Q1/20 (first quarter 2020) in order to commence the reprocessing of the heap leach pad in advance of mining new material," said Golden Predator Mining CEO Janet Lee-Sheriff. "The feasibility study represents a major step towards commercial production and with the significant infrastructure left in place, a cost-effective means to a restart of the larger operation."

In July, the Yukon government confirmed the validity of an existing Quartz Mining License and Water License for Brewery Creek, which means Golden Predator is authorized to reprocess the material stacked on the heap leach pad, plus mine up to 4 million metric tons of ore from areas designated under the former plan operations.

The mining of new material under the existing license is the second phase of Golden Predator's plans for resumption of operations.

Phase 3, which is contingent upon continued exploration success and additional permitting, is expected to include expansion that would extend the life of the Brewery Creek Mine.

"Licenses are in place for phase 1 and phase 2," said Sheriff. "For phase 3, we have already begun preparation of amendments to be filed early in the new year to incorporate additional resources into the current mine plan through the assessment and licensing process to extend the anticipated mine life."

–SHANE LASLEY