Name of the Project
Spanish Mountain gold project.

Location
Central British Columbia, Canada. 

Project Owner/s
Spanish Mountain.

Project Description
The project has total mineral reserves of 95.9-million tonnes grading 0.76 g/t gold and 0.71 g/t silver. The mineral reserves are based on the mine plan developed for the prefeasibility study (PFS).

The PFS is based on a 20 000 t/d milling rate to process the delineated proven and probable reserves as a standalone openpit operation for 14 years, producing 2.1-million ounces of gold and 900 000 oz of silver.

The milling process involves a primary crushing circuit followed by a semiautogenous grinding mill and ball mill to produce a relatively coarse grind of 180 μm. This will be processed using gravity concentration and flotation to produce concentrates for fine grinding and carbon-in-leach cyanidation at an overall life-of-mine average gold recovery of 90% and silver recovery of 40%.  Doré will be produced on site as an end-product.    

The PFS proposes an owner-operated mining fleet; Spanish Mountain believes that the project’s proximity to contractors and/or suppliers makes contract mining a potentially compelling option, providing another opportunity to further reduce the initial capital.  

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has a pretax net present value, at a 5% discount rate, of $848-million and an internal rate of return of 25%, with a payback of construction capital in 3.3 years at a base case gold price of $ 1 600/oz.

Capital Expenditure
C$607-million, including a contingency of C$75-million.

Planned Start/End Date
Project construction is expected to be completed over two years.

Latest Developments
In addition to demonstrating the project’s potential as a robust mining operation focused on the delineated mineral reserves, the comprehensive evaluation process undertaken by the PFS team has generated significant information to support the ongoing environment assessment. In addition, the process has also resulted in the identification of tangible targets to further optimise the project’s value.

Spanish Mountain expects to conduct additional fieldwork in several areas, including metallurgical process, water management and treatment, environmental strategies and pit optimisation, to capture all the potential benefits in a feasibility study in due course.

The company intends to continue the campaign to expand its multimillion-ounce gold resource and other field activities to support the environmental assessment process.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
MMTS (project coordination and mineral reserves, mining methods and economic analysis); Ausenco (mineral process recovery methods and site infrastructure); Ginto Consulting (mineral resource estimate); Discovery Consultants (geology, exploration and drilling); Lukan Engineering (water treatment); Knight Piésold (tailings water management, environmental and permitting); MCA Engineering (power supply); pHase Geochemistry (geochemical characterisation); BGC Engineering (geotechnical and hydrogeological); and PricewaterhouseCoopers (tax model review).

Contact Details for Project Information
Spanish Mountain, tel +1 604 601 3651 or email info@spanishmountaingold.com.