JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aim-listed Ortac Resources has restarted mining activities at the Šturec deposit, in Slovakia, which will allow the company to continue to work towards establishing a commercial mine in the Kremnica mining licence area.
Restarting small-scale mining activities fulfils a condition required by Slovak regulations to preserve Ortac’s right to exploit the Šturec ore deposit.
The company said on Tuesday that it remained in active discussions with its potential local joint venture partner to develop the project, which could realise about 873 000 oz of gold equivalent from the current mineral resource.
A 2013 prefeasibility study (PFS) confirmed the project’s economic viability. The deposit has a measured and indicated mineral resource of 1.01-million ounces at 2.05 g/t of gold equivalent and an inferred resource of 31 000 oz at 1 g/t gold equivalent.
The PFS deemed that the project would likely have a favourable payback period, estimated at 3.5 years and would present a post-tax internal rate of return of 26%.