KRY (Gold stock) news: INTERVIEW-Crystallex digs for Uruguay gold, diamonds
(Reuters, 03/29/2000 12:55)
By Robert S. Elliott
BUENOS AIRES, March 29 (Reuters) - Vancouver-based exploration and mining company Crystallex (TSE:KRY) has extended the life of its San Gregorio gold mine in Uruguay and started looking for diamonds closeby, the firm's top official said.
Recent work has allowed the company to tack a couple more years onto the mine's life, which was originally put at four to five years in January 1998.
"The exploration has gone well and has allowed us to add to the resource from last year's position," said Marc Oppenheimer, president and chief executive officer of Crystallex International Corp. (AMEX:KRY)
"In essence we've replenished what we've mined out and we've been able to extend the runway for two years," Oppenheimer told Reuters by telephone.
Crystallex took about 70,000 ounces of gold out of San Gregorio in 1998 and another 75,000 ounces in 1999. The mine's total resource is over 600,000 ounces.
Annual production is expected to be 75,000 ounces. Recovery rates are averaging 92 percent and cash costs are riding at around $198 per ounce.
"We've targeted life-of-mine (cash costs) to be at $220 or lower and we've consistently come in below our budgeted numbers," said Oppenheimer.
"If you looked at the long term, below $220 per ounce is something I'm comfortable with for the life of the mine," he added.
Mill modifications slated for May are expected to take daily throughput up to 3,700-3,800 tonnes from the current 3,200 tonnes, Oppenheimer said.
An oddity in the small coastal nation known for its beef and wool, San Gregorio sits on the Rivera Crystalline Island rock outcrop on Uruguay's border with Brazil. It's a flat, semi-arid zone replete with ancient ombu trees, wild horses and nandus (American ostriches).
The deposit was initially mined by the French and British in the 1800s. The old British cable and pulley system mounted on towers that was used to transport ore still dots the countryside and is considered an historic monument.
Crystallex bought San Gregorio out of receivership for $29 million in 1998 after Canadian owner REA Gold went bust.
About 30 miles (50 km) to the northwest of the gold pit lie 15 kimberlite diamond chutes that Crystallex has begun to bore into as part of a joint venture with Toronto firm SouthernEra Resources Ltd. (TSE:SUF). The new project is expected to drill 2,500 meters over four months on exploration land held by both companies.
"At this stage we'll be the operator of the exploration phase. If it gets into production we'll switch and they'll end up taking marketing responsibility for the stones," said Oppenheimer.
The project should cost Crystallex -- which is furnishing the necessary drills and infrastructure -- about $500,000, he said.
"We're going to do holes that are about 100 meters in length to get really fresh materials," said Luca Riccio, vice president of exploration at Crystallex and the senior geologist for the joint venture.
The hope is that "continental drift" has made Uruguay's northern mineral make-up similar to that of Africa's diamond-bearing regions.
"There is a theory that has been postulated by many people that at one point in time you had the continents together, and as they drifted apart the geology in certain parts of South America would theoretically equate to certain producing areas of Africa," said Oppenheimer.
"As people are doing their grassroots exploration, continental drift is one of the theories they follow," he said. buenosaires.newsroom@reuters.com))
Copyright 2000, Reuters News Service |
