www.scminerals.com
Sacre-Coeur Minerals, Ltd. is engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of Properties for the potential mining of gold, metals and diamonds in South America, initially focusing on exploration for gold on its properties in Guyana. The Company presently has an interest in approximately 1,013 square kilometers of mineral properties in Guyana, including the flagship Million Mountain project in north-central Guyana consisting of 21 permits covering some 21,768 acres in the Mazaruni Mining District.
Sacre-Coeur Minerals says preparations for Test Mining at Million Mountain Nearing Completion
Sacre-Coeur Minerals Ltd (TSX: SCM) said fabrication and set-up work for its alluvial gold test mining plant at the Million Mountain Alluvial Zone 2 is nearing completion. The Million Mountain project is located in the Lower Puruni Region of Guyana.
Sarce-Coeur is engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of properties for the potential mining of gold, metals and diamonds in South America. The company’s initial focus is on its gold properties in Guyana. The company presently has an interest in approximately 1,000 suare kilometres of mineral properties in Guyana, including the Million Mountain property.
Clearing and pre-production stripping of the initial mining area is complete. The initial area prepared should provide about three months' production at the anticipated target rate of 1,000 cubic metres per day. Site preparation and expansion will continue on an ongoing basis commensurate with production.
The wash plant/sluice, is essentially complete, with only a few small details still left, the remaining details should be done by the end of October. The gold refinery is under construction and should be completed during November.
The gravel pump skid and the fresh water pump skid have been completed, tested and are now functioning. The gravel pump skid, wash plant and water pump skid will be moved across the river from the construction site to the mining site.
At the processing facility the amalgamator is assembled and set on its base, testing is due to be undertaken shortly. The gold refinery is under construction and should be complete during November.
The construction of the site’s support infrastructure is also progressing, with the ramps for the ferry crossing and the road to the mining area all complete.
The contract for site security from an independent, professional security service is complete and scheduled to start in November. The agreement for helicopter transport of the gold from the project site to Georgetown and attendant armoured car service pickup from the helicopter for delivery to the point of sale is in progress, and should be in place during November.
All remaining tasks are now expected to be complete by November 30 2009. Commissioning and debugging of the equipment should be achieved in approximately two weeks following start-up, with commercial production targeted before year-end.
At the Million Mountain project in Guyana Sacre-Coeur is assessing nine alluvial gold zones within the Puruni river paleochannel. In June, the junior exploration company confirmed that it had already completed 83 test pits spaced approximately 100 meters apart along grid lines located 160 meters from each other. The results showed that a gold bearing alluvial sand and gravel resource target stretched 1.66 kilometres by 0.80 kilometres.
Most recently, Sarce-Coeur announced it had commenced the second phase of drilling on target Zone 9 on the Million Mountain. The second phase includes up to ten additional holes for a total 2,500m, is aimed at adding strike length to the known mineralised zones. The company will then embark on a five hole drilling programme to test a geochemical anomaly located south ant west of Zone 1 and could potentially extend it with another gold mineralisation.
