www.minera-irl.com
Minera IRL is a Latin American precious metals mining, development and exploration company. Managed by a team of experienced mining executives, the Group's business was privately funded from inception in 2000 until listing in April 2007. Minera IRL operates the Corihuarmi Gold Mine, is exploring the Ollachea Project, both of which are in Peru, and is also undertaking a feasibility study at the Don Nicolas gold project in Patagonia, Argentina.
Minera IRL on track for second gold mine after Don Nicholas feasibility success
Don Nicholas is found in the Santa Cruz province of Argentina, a regional hot spot for gold mining and exploration
Minera IRL (LON:MIRL, CVE:IRL) said it is on track to start its second producing gold mine following the completion of a feasibility study on the Don Nicholas project in Argentina.
The Don Nicholas gold and silver mine is scheduled to come online at the end of next year.
Today’s pivotal report confirmed the viability of a 350,000 tonne per year open pit mining operation that would produce 52,400 ounces of gold and 56,000 ounces of silver each year. This is over an initial 3.6 year mine life.
The operation is estimated to have life-of-mine cash costs of US$528 an ounce, after silver credits.
"The results of the Don Nicolas feasibility study confirm that Minera IRL can now proceed with the permitting and development of a new, highly profitable gold mine to complement the Corihuarmi Gold Mine in Peru," said chairman Courtney Chamberlain.
The feasibility study shows the mine would be worth US$44.7 million before-tax and would have a 34.6 per cent internal rate of return (IRR), and that is assuming a fairly conservative gold price of US$1,250.
Meanwhile, modelling a higher gold price of US$1,500 – which is still around US$200 an ounce below current levels – the study values the project US$82 million before tax and gives it an IRR of 56.3 per cent.
The group says that upcoming drilling should significantly add to the initial mine life. According to Minera IRL a 12,000 metre drill programme will test the project’s excellent brownfields exploration potential. This work will focus on the Martinetas area of the project.
Furthermore, Minera IRL believes that the heap leach treatment of low grade resources may increase production and a further study into this is due for completion later this year.
"We are very confident that the initial operation is only the starting point at Don Nicolas considering the upside potential in a number of areas,” Chamberlain added.
“We have already defined a substantial low grade resource that may be amenable to future heap leach treatment.
“A 12,000 meter RC drilling campaign at Martinetas, scheduled to begin in March, is expected to add significantly to our resource base. There is potential for a longer term underground operation at the Sulfuro deposit and, finally, we believe that there is excellent discovery potential from our regional exploration program."
Minera IRL already operates the Corihuarmi mine in Peru. The profit coming from Corihuarmi helps run the company and pays for the exploration. But in many ways it is the springboard for the group’s more substantial gold mine development projects, Don Nicholas and Ollachea, in southern Peru.
A pre-feasibility study was completed last year at Ollachea and it is scheduled to come online in 2014.
