TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Gold junior Pretium Resources on Wednesday unveiled the results of an updated scoping study, which outlines a much bigger mine at the Brucejack project in northern British Columbia.

The asset will churn out an average 325 000 oz of the yellow metal for each of its first twelve years of operation, nearly double the previous estimate of 173 000 oz.

Capital costs have also risen significantly – now pegged at $436.3-million, compared with the $281.7-million figure for the previous preliminary economic assessment (PEA).

TSX-listed Pretium in December increased the measured and indicated resource at Brucejack by 460% to five-million ounces, and said it would use that as the basis of a new study.

The updated PEA gave the project a 29.8% internal rate of return, with payback estimated at 4.1 years.

The firm bought Brucejack and the adjacent Snowfield property from Silver Standard Resources in October last year, and used the proceeds of a November initial public offering to pay for them.
 

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