Re: Homestake,...Veladero,...for Liz and Claude
The big problem they seem to be having is deciding where to put the tailings dumps and leach pads. Initial plans were in place and they started to drill the locations several months ago to make sure they didn't place anything on mineralized ground. Sure enough, they found mineralization under the proposed road, dumps, leach pads and processing building,....back to the drawing board,...such a hard problem to have (gggggggggggggg).
Homestake would be a good company for IWA to partner with on Cariboo Gold. They have a good presence in B.C. with Eskay Creek, just a couple mountain ranges and a plateau away (gggggggg), and relations with the B.C. government are excellent. They also paid me more for my ARP shares than Barrick was going to,...so perhaps we will get a good buyout if they decide to take out IWA.
The latest data on Veladero,
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, MARCH 28, 2000
Homestake Mining Company (NYSE: HM, ASX: HSM, TSE: HCX) announced today that it had
completed sufficient work on its 60%-owned Veladero project in northwestern Argentina to declare a
4.8 million ounce proven and probable gold reserve (Homestake?s share: 2.88 million ounces) contained
in 92.5 million tons of ore grading 0.052 ounces of gold per ton. The reserve, which also contains 0.71
ounces of silver per ton, is part of the recently announced and much larger mineralized inventory
totaling 7.8 million ounces of gold.
The ore is expected to be sourced from two open pits before being processed through a
conventional mill and a heap leach facility. The breakdown of the mill and heap leach ores is as follows
(100% basis):
Ore Type
Tons
(Millions)
Gold Grade
(Oz per ton)
Silver Grade
(Oz per ton)
Gold
(Millions of Oz)
Silver
(Millions of Oz)
Mill 18.5 0.145 1.40 2.68 25.8
Heap-leach 74.0 0.029 0.54 2.12 39.9
Total 92.5 0.052 0.71 4.80 65.7
?When Homestake acquired Argentina Gold in 1999, we expected the transaction to be accretive.
It is very gratifying that half-way through the first season of intense exploration and evaluation at
Veladero, we have been able to achieve a 6% increase in Homestake?s gold reserves per share,? said
Jack E. Thompson, Homestake?s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. ?We are really just starting to
learn about the geological controls on the ore body and believe that there is a lot more gold to be found
on this highly prospective property.?
HOMESTAKE REPORTS A LARGE INCREASE IN GOLD INVENTORY AT VELADERO
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, MARCH 7, 2000
Homestake Mining Company (NYSE: HM, ASX: HSM, TSE: HCX) today reported that the
amount of gold contained in mineralized inventory at its 60%-owned Veladero project in northwestern
Argentina has reached 7.8 million ounces, a 39% increase over the amount assessed as of December 31,
1999. The amount of silver in mineralized inventory has increased by 47% and reached 147.4 million
ounces. The increased amounts of gold and silver are based on the information compiled from a total of
87 additional holes drilled since June 1999 into the Amable and Filo Federico deposits as well as step-out
holes drilled north and east of Amable and southeast of Filo Federico. Not included in the inventory,
but of particular importance, is mineralization which has been found between the two deposits. This
mineralization forms an apparent extension of the earlier discovered Amable Norte zone and its
discovery has opened new possibilities for future resource growth at Veladero.
In-fill drilling within Amable and Filo Federico has also been encouraging. As a result,
indicated resources now constitute 86% of the total Veladero mineralized inventory (see tables below),
compared to 73% at the end of 1999. This qualitative improvement is expected to facilitate conversion
of mineralized inventory to reserve classification when the results of economic studies are received by
June 2000. The progress of the ongoing campaign has led Homestake and its joint venture partner,
Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE, TSE: ABX), which owns the remaining 40% of the project, to
increase the current $13-million-dollar project budget by $5 million. The increased budget will be
allocated towards additional exploration as well as condemnation drilling on potential leach-pad and
waste-dump sites.
?We are very encouraged by the excellent results achieved at Veladero in just a few months of
drilling,? said Jack E. Thompson, Homestake?s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. ?We have
substantially expanded the project?s mineral endowment, made significant progress in assessing its
metallurgical, hydrological, geotechnical and environmental characteristics, and improved its
infrastructure development. One of our objectives is to build a critical mass of low cost production in
South America similar to our existing production base in Canada, Australia and the United States. The
recent results at Veladero move us closer towards achieving this objective.? |
