Besides the April, 1998 Kilborn study another independent analysis was done on the project.
It estimated there is less than 1 mil ounces of feasibly extractable gold in the main vein, not 2.8 mil ounces as Kilborn determined, because Kilborn's analysis was done at a higher gold price and the lower price of $280 per ounce would mean that one end of the vein is too narrow (2 to 3 feet), and the other end too low grade (.18 ounce per ton), to economically mine.
The report also said the vein's relatively low grade of .3 ounce per ton below 2,000 feet would make it uneconomic at $280 per ounce gold.
This leaves less than 1 million ounces of possibly economic gold in a limited area of the main vein plus ore from other pockets of the main vein and other zones which would bring the total up to 1.5 million ounces. At $280 per ounce gold this is $420 million gross metal value before mining, milling and shipping!
Other things apparently mentioned in the report were:
- the declining gold price continually reduces the size of the main vein that can be economically mined,
- underground mining development costs will be high because of the large planned tonnage,
- power requirements and milling costs will be high as the ore has to be ground extremely fine to release the gold,
- the costs of milling and shipping the copper concentrate which contains 40% of the gold will be high, and
- Tanzania has no skilled underground miners which would be needed to keep the large number of working stopes operating to feed the mill.
I will try to find out more about this independent assessment. |
