Mineral Exploration is the official publication of the Association of Mineral Exploration British Columbia.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/756078
18 Mineral Exploration | amebc.ca Company Inc. Under the agreement, Thompson Creek can earn up to a 50 per cent interest in the IKE project by funding $15 million of expenditures before December 31, 2019, and, among other things, completing a feasibility study. By completing the funding of the initial $5 million, Thompson Creek has earned its first incremental 10 per cent in the project. Amarc, for its part, is the operator of the IKE project. Amarc has secured additional mineral claims in the area surrounding IKE to cover other deposit targets as well as potential infrastructure sites. Nicolson says the timing of the IKE project is ideal. "As the major mine developers begin to look for projects to fill up their depleted development pipelines, and as investment and merger-and-acquisition activity in the mining sector begins to recover, IKE has the potential to attract positive attention and investment to the mineral exploration business in B.C.," she says. Comeback kids Pretium Resources Inc. is constructing a high-grade underground gold mine at its Brucejack project in northern British Columbia north of Stewart. Construction began in 2015 and commercial production is expected to begin in late 2017. The project is fully funded and fully permitted, and construction has passed the halfway point. Once it is completed, Brucejack will be the biggest operating gold mine in B.C. and one of the largest in Canada. It is expected to produce a total of 7.3 million ounces of gold over an anticipated mine life of 18 years. "The main focus of the project is the Valley of the Kings deposit," says Pretium president Joseph Ovsenek. The Valley of the Kings (VOK) deposit is made up of high-grade visible gold within a lower-grade gold-quartz stockwork system. A feasibility study completed in June 2014 outlined proven and probable mineral reserves in the VOK of 6.9 million ounces of gold (13.6 million tonnes grading 15.7 grams per tonne gold). The VOK infill drill program continued through 2015 and into the second quarter of 2016. The purpose of the program was to support production planning in the VOK and to convert indicated mineral resources into measured mineral resources in the areas that will be mined in the first three years of the current mine plan. In July 2016, Pretium said in an announcement that the program was successful in increasing the measured mineral resources in the VOK by 58 per cent, to 1.9 million ounces (3.5 million We see an additional 100,000 ounces of gold Accurate structural geology interpretation can mean the difference between a money pit and a gold mine. When our team of the world's best structural geology specialists analyse complex data you get insights that let you make condent, informed decisions. Before you undertake your next mining project, let us give you a clear picture of the risks and rewards. For a snapshot of 17 distinct services to the global mining industry, download our new mining brochure, available at: srk.com >1,400 professionals • > 45 ofces • > 20 countries