YUKON – Vancouver-based Copper North Mining Corp. says it has hired JDS Energy and Mining (JDS) and Beijing General Research Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (BGRIMM) to produce a new feasibility study for the Carmacks copper-gold-silver project 220 km northwest of Whitehorse. Copper North is looking to cut potential capital and operating costs at Carmacks, including an investigation into the use of vat leaching.
Responsibility for the feasibility study is split between JDS and BGRIMM. JDS is responsible for the areas of infrastructure, geotechnical mining and earthworks. BGRIMM will tackle all process design and equipment selection, including procuring the milling equipment from China. The new study is to be completed in Q3 2015.
Several studies of the Carmacks project have been produced with the first delivered in 1995. The latest one was a preliminary economic assessment produced by Copper North in July 2014. That PEA examined an open pit mine and copper heap leach. Cathode copper production was anticipated at 30 million lb annually plus gold and silver recovered in doré bars. The largest part of the preproduction capital expenditure was to be for the process plant, infrastructure and contingency, US$210 million all together. A further US$15 million would be spent on mine development, leaching, mining equipment, and owner's costs.
Readers can learn more about the Carmacks project by viewing the September 2014 corporate presentation posted at CopperNorthMining.com.
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