BRITISH COLUMBIA The feasibility study for the Red Chris copper/gold mine indicates that an investment of $228.5 million will be needed to develop the open pit and 30,000-t/d mill in the northeastern part of the province. The property is 80% owned by Vancouver-based BC METALS, which is buying out TECK COMINCO's 20%.
The study is based on total reserves of 276 million tonnes grading 0.349% Cu and 0.266 g/t Au. Minable reserves of 185.4 million tonnes grading 0.414% Cu and 0.325 g/t Au will produce 1.85 billion lb of copper and 1.187 million oz of gold in concentrates over a 25-year mine life. A three-month pre-production period is required to get a truck-and-shovel open pit mine up and running. The concentrator will be built with a conventional flowsheet to produce a concentrate grading 27% Cu and 12.7 g/t Au during the first five years of production. A reclamation plan employing the mined-out pit as a long term effluent storage basin has been filed.
At a copper price of US$1.10/lb, a gold price of US$375/oz, a silver price of US$5.50/oz., and a Canadian dollar exchange rate of $1.33 to the US dollar (Cdn$1 equals US$0.75), the project internal rate of return is 17.5% . The Red Chris mine should pay for itself in less than five years.
Portions of the company's website (www.BCmetals.com) were being updated this week, but interested parties may call bcMetals chairman and CEO Carl Zuber or president and COO Ian Smith at 604-683-0140.
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