The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
First combined committee program with Rio and Mitsubishi North of 60 Mining News – August 25, 2023
A 2022 feasibility study outlines plans for an economically robust mine at Casino capable of producing an average of 163 million pounds of copper, 211,000 ounces of gold, 1.28 million oz of silver, and 15.1 million lb of molybdenum per year over an initial 27-year mine life.
Western Copper and Gold Corp. Aug. 23 outlined plans for the first drill program to be carried out at the Casino copper-gold project in Canada's Yukon under a technical and sustainability committee that includes investors Rio Tinto and Mitsubishi Materials Corp.
With a recent C$21.3 million (US$15.6 million) investment from Mitsubishi Materials and a total of C$25.6 million (US$18.9 million) from Rio Tinto, Western Copper is flush with capital to execute a plan of action for its Casino property.
Developed by Western's technical and sustainability committee, this year's program is slated to include 2,200 meters of metallurgical and infill drilling in seven holes, ranging from 130 meters to 560 meters.
According to the most recent calculation, Casino hosts 2.49 billion metric tons of measured and indicated resources averaging 0.14% (7.64 billion pounds) copper, 0.18 grams per metric ton (14.8 million ounces) gold, and 1.5 g/t (117.2 million oz) silver; plus 1.41 billion metric tons of inferred resource averaging 0.1% (3.08 million lb) copper, 0.14 g/t (6.3 million oz) gold, and 1.2 g/t (52.3 million oz) silver.
The infill drilling is expected to upgrade some of the inferred resources to the higher confidence indicated category.
The core from this year's program will also be used for a metallurgical program that will begin after assays are received. Western aims for the program to develop a more detailed geometallurgical model of the deposit, with a focus on an updated recovery and concentrate model.
The program will also include roughly 800 meters of geotechnical and hydrogeological drilling designed to target the ground conditions of the proposed open pit, stockpiles, tailings management facility, heap leaching facility, new airstrip, and the proposed Ranney well site.
"This is the first drill program developed by our new combined Technical and Sustainability Committee," said Western Copper and Gold CEO Paul West-Sells. "We are excited to be working with Rio and Mitsubishi, and look forward to working with them as this program moves forward."
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