The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
North of 60 Mining News - October 7, 2024
Thesis completed a 9,510-meter drill program at Lawyers-Ranch focused on collecting data for a prefeasibility study, upgrading and expanding the resource, and exploration.
The main Lawyers resource area with the mine infrastructure outlined in a PEA published in September.
Thesis Gold Inc. Oct. 7 announced the completion of a 2024 field program focused on collecting the final information needed to initiate a prefeasibility study (PFS) and permitting for a mine at its Lawyers-Ranch gold-silver project in Northern British Columbia's Toodoggone Mining District.
"The successful completion of the 2024 exploration season marks a key milestone for Thesis Gold. This key work is in preparation for the Environmental Assessment process and positions us to swiftly transition into the PFS," said Thesis Gold President and CEO Ewan Webster.
In September, the company released the results of a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) that outlined plans for a mining operation at Lawyers-Ranch that would produce 2.32 million oz of gold and 56.4 million oz of silver, or 4 million oz gold-equivalent, over 14 years.
The PEA envisions a 12,600-metric-ton-per-day operation located on Lawyers that would process ore from four pits on the property and several small pits at Ranch, which lies immediately to the north.
At an average gold price of $1,930 per oz and silver price of $24/oz, the operation would generate an after-tax net present value (NPV) of C$1.28 billion ($950 million) and an after-tax internal rate of return (IRR) of 35.2%. This operation would pay back the estimated C$598.5 million ($442.9 million) initial capital expenditures in two years.
At $2,500/oz gold and $30/oz silver, both lower than current prices, the after-tax NPV jumps to C$2.25 billion ($1.67 billion), the IRR comes in at 52.8%, and the payback period drops to 1.3 years.
This PEA is based on 82 million metric tons of measured and indicated resources averaging 1.11 grams per metric ton (2.92 million ounces) gold and 31.9 g/t (84 million oz silver), or 4 million oz gold-equivalent on the adjacent Lawyer and Ranch properties.
The main Lawyers resource area with the mine infrastructure outlined in a PEA published in September.
This year, Thesis completed 9,510 meters of drilling focused on collecting data for engineering and environmental baseline studies, expanding and upgrading the resource and exploration.
Roughly 5,400 meters of this drilling was carried out at Ranch, the earlier staged of the two properties. This drilling was focused largely on collecting data for geotechnical and water monitoring studies but also included resource expansion and exploration drilling.
The balance of the program focused on upgrading existing resources at Lawyers and confirming mineralization in modelled stopes for underground mining.
In addition to the geotechnical drilling, the 2024 program at Ranch included the digging of test pits to assess ground qualities at proposed waste rock storage facility sites. This work complements the feasibility-level engineering already completed at Lawyers and will further support a combined mining scenario for both projects.
Thesis also reports that the minimum two-year environmental baseline data collection at Ranch is nearing completion. With the environmental baseline work at Lawyers already materially complete, the finalization of the baseline data collection at Ranch will provide the information to complete the PFS and enter permitting in 2025.
"With a strong PEA already in place and accelerated progress toward PFS and permitting, the Lawyers-Ranch Project stands out as a premier, advanced-stage asset with significant near-term production potential and considerable exploration upside," Webster said.
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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