May/June 2013 - The ASIA Miner

South Pacific
Vatukoula begins mining high grade ore
MINING has begun at the high-grade Cayzer-
Prince ore body at Vatukoula Gold’s underground
mine on Fiji’s Viti Levu Island where the
company aims to annually produce up to
100,000 ounces of gold. In the three months
ending February 28, 89,341 tonnes of ore
were mined at the project with 103,916 tonnes
of ore processed for 8861 ounces of gold.
Mining from the Cayzer-Prince ore body is expected
to lead to higher returns for the company
owing to the higher grades. Vatukoula’s chief
executive officer David Paxton says “Our recent
heavy investment in capital development opened
up access to Cayzer-Prince. Currently we
are carrying out limited mining from this ore body
which has been reflected in an increase in grade
coming from the Phillip shaft of 6.9 grams/tonne
compared to the previous six months which yielded
5.3 grams/tonne gold.”
The company has received independent due
diligence that confirms its long-term production
targets are achievable and the mine development
strategy is sound. It is currently negotiating
with several parties regarding investment
in a US$30-$40 million expansion program at
the site. The form of funding is not finalized but
discussions have included gold prepayment
loans, gold streaming loans, convertible loans,
and other debt and equity combinations.
The Vatukoula site has been historically mined
during the past 70 years, producing about 7 million
ounces of gold and 2 million ounces of silver
in that time. There is established infrastructure
including an independent power station, assay
labs and workshops, at the mine site.
To fund the expansion Vatukoula began investigating
potential alternate forms of longterm
financing in the middle of last year. This
process formally began in April 2012 with the
commissioning of an independent due diligence
review of the operations. The finalized
review was circulated to banks and other interested
parties in early 2013.
During the 6 months ending February 28,
total tonnes of ore, waste and capital mined
decreased to 206,501 tonnes compared to
242,768 tonnes in the same period of 2012.
Lower tonnages were driven by decreases in
strike drive, operating and capital development
metres. Ore delivered from underground in the
half was 126,063 tonnes, a decrease compared
to the same period of 2012. This reduction
was due in part to the reduction of strike drive
development, which is delivered as ore.
Glass Earth files NZ technical reports
GLASS Earth Gold has filed three NI 43-101
technical reports relating to its New Zealand
gold projects. The Canadian-based company
filed a report on resources at Muir’s Gold Project
and a report on exploration at the Wharekirauponga
(WKP) project, both within the
Hauraki Goldfield, North Island, and a technical
report on five alluvial properties in the
Central Otago Goldfields, South Island.
Glass Earth is one of New Zealand’s most
active gold exploration companies with landholdings
proximal to producing deposits and
cash flow from its wholly-owned placer projects.
The company is exploring promising
prospects across the North and South islands.
Muir’s exploration has outlined a 5.24 million
tonnes inferred resource averaging 1.3
grams/tonne gold using a 0.5 grams/tonne
cut-off for a total of 219,000 ounces. This is
based on Glass Earth’s data and historical
data dating back to the 1980s. Glass Earth
executed 24 trenches for 510 metres total
length, 16 diamond drill holes for 3141.25
metres and 2 RC drill holes for 463 metres.
Muir’s is 65km southeast of Newmont’s
Martha Gold Mine at the southern end of
Hauraki Goldfield. Two quartz reefs were
mined within this epithermal system until the
1930s, with more than 43,000 ounces extracted
from shallow surface and underground
workings.
WKP project is held by the Hauraki Joint
Venture (HJV) of Newmont Waihi Gold
(65%) and Glass Earth (35%) and is in the
southern Hauraki Goldfield, 10km north of
the Martha Gold Mine and 110km southeast
of Auckland. It is developing as a significant
discovery within a large low
sulphidation gold-silver epithermal system
capable of hosting a major deposit.
Following historical exploration on Eastern
Samples from Glass Earth Gold’s WKP Gold Project on New Zealand’s North Island.
Zone, HJV’s work has identified two other
significant zones, Central and Western, and
recently intersected mineralization on the
Eastern Graben structure. The HJV plans a
significant exploration program for 2013 -
further evaluating Eastern Graben and including
an initial project resource estimate,
metallurgical test work, rock engineering
study, geophysics and a 2500 metre diamond
drill program.
52 | ASIA Miner | May/June 2013