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Rockhaven looks to expand resources ahead of prefeasibility North of 60 Mining News – July 17, 2020
Drills have outlined a deposit at Klaza capable of supporting a mine that could produce roughly 750,000 ounces gold and 13.8 million oz silver over a 12-year mine life.
A geologist inspects core from the 2015 drilling at Klaza.
Rockhaven Resources Ltd. July 13 released the results of a preliminary economic assessment for a mine at its Klaza project in southern Yukon that could economically produce roughly 750,000 ounces gold and 13.8 million oz silver over a 12-year mine life.
Based on US$1,450/oz gold, US$17/oz silver, and a C$1 to US72 cent exchange rate, the Klaza mine outlined in the PEA would generate a post-tax net present value (at a 5% discount) of C$378 million and a 37% internal rate of return.
The initial capital to develop a mine at this road-accessible property in Yukon's Dawson Range is estimated to be C$244 million, which includes C$32 million in contingency costs. Another C$114 million in sustaining capital costs has been calculated for the mine over the 12 years envisioned in the PEA.
"This study demonstrates that Rockhaven's Klaza deposit could support a mine with a long life and robust economics," said Rockhaven Resources President and CEO Matt Turner. "Since the last economic study was completed in 2016, closer spaced drilling has better defined the upper portions of the deposit, resulting in higher average grades in a superior resource category."
This Klaza mine envisioned in the 2020 PEA is based on 4.46 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 4.8 grams per metric ton (686,000 oz) gold and 98 g/t (14.1 million oz) silver; plus 5.71 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 2.8 g/t (507,000 oz) gold and 76 g/t (13.9 million oz) silver. These resources also contain a small amount of zinc and lead.
The PEA envisions extracting 1.18 million metric tons of this resource with open-pit mining and another 6.28 million metric tons with underground mining.
Only the upper portions of three out of eleven known mineralized zones at Klaza are included in mineral resources evaluated in the new economic assessment, providing ample potential for value enhancement through additional exploration.
Opportunities to enhance Klaza's value include:
• Infill drilling to better define areas of high-grade mineralization within the inferred resource area.
• Drilling to better define and expand the underexplored Central BRX zone.
• Drilling of potential near surface bulk tonnage targets within the Eastern BRX zone.
• Drilling beneath current mineral resources, where the deposit remains open at depth.
• Detailed drilling of other known mineralized structures in order to include them in future mineral resource estimations.
"We are very pleased with the results of this PEA and look forward to continuing to add value through additional discoveries while advancing the deposit through pre-feasibility," said Turner.
Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.
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