BRITISH COLUMBIA - Vancouver-based Yellowhead Mining continues to prepare for production from its Harper Creek copper-gold volcanogenic sulphide (VMS) deposit 150 km north of Kamloops. The latest milestone was the purchase of the former Weyerhauser sawmill property in Vavenby, BC for C$2.15 million.
The property includes an 1,880-metre-long rail siding providing access to Canadian National Railway's main line. The facility, 25 km away from the mill site, will become the rail loadout point for Harper Creek concentrate.
The Harper Creek deposit has measured and indicated resources of 563.2 million tonnes grading 0.31% Cu (3.6 billion lb of copper metal), 0.032 g/t Au and 1.08 g/t Ag. The inferred resource is 117.0 million tonnes grading 0.20% Cu (700 million lb of copper metal).
The preliminary economic assessment demonstrated a 22-year project life at a milling rate of 70,000 t/d, a planned production of 149 million lb of copper in concentrate per annum for years one to eight, a life-of-mine stripping ratio 0.88:1, a pre-tax internal rate of return of 19.8% with a base case copper price of US$2.66/lb, an net present value (8%) of US$598 million and a capital cost of C$759 million in Q4 2010 dollars, including contingency with a four-year payback.
Yellowhead's website at www.YellowheadMining.com contains the technical reports and documents for the project as well as map and photo galleries.
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