Besra Gold Inc. - Announces Stage One Feasibility for Bau Gold Project in East Malaysia
23.01.2014 | ABN Newswire
Toronto, Canada (ABN Newswire) - Besra (TSE:BEZ) (ASX:BEZ) (OTCMKTS:BSRAF) (FRA:OP6) today filed its feasibility study for Stage One of its Bau project in Sarawak, East Malaysia. The feasibility study specifically covers the proposed open pit development at Jugan Hill to the northeastern end of the Bau Central gold trend and proposes average annual production of 116,000 oz per year from late 2015.Key Results
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Total Capital $134,878,000
Initial Capital $92,119,690
Ongoing Capital $42,758,310
@ Gold Price $1,300
Operating Cost/Ore Tonne $36.84
All-in Sustaining Cost per Ounce $1,159.18
All-in Cost per Ounce (incl. Resale) $1,101.71
NPV @ 8% $48,323,190
IRR 25.4%
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Besra CEO, John Seton, said, " The release of the Stage One feasibility study confirms that this is an exciting and economically viable project. I'd also like to make it clear that this is only Stage One of a sizable multimine project with significant potential for expansion for many years to come. We have already commenced pre-feasibility studies on adjacent deposits to increase mine life to 10-years. The fifteen kilometer long Bau gold field is open along strike and at depth at almost every deposit." Bau is a historic goldfield, which has been intermittently mined at surface for the past 150 years. Past production from these shallow pits is estimated to be around 3 million ounces.
Since 2006, Besra has been consolidating mining tenure over approximately 350 sq km of the most prospective parts of the goldfield and systematically exploring multiple gold deposits and prospective zones. Current JORC/NI 43-101 resources stand at 21,285,300 tonnes @ 1.64 g/t Au for 1,124,900 ounces (measured + indicated) and 51,329,000 tonnes @ 1.32 g/t Au for 2,181,600 ounces (inferred). These resources reflect a low discovery cost of US$6.00 per ounce.
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Resource Category Tonnes (t) Grade (g/t)
Measured 3,405,600 1.52
Indicated 17,879,700 1.67
Measured +
Indicated 21,285,300 1.64
Inferred 51,329,000 1.32
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Exploration
Seton said, "exploration remains at relatively early stage, with multiple deposits at various stages of exploration development and many prospective zones as yet entirely unexplored. Geological potential for substantially higher-grade mineralisation has also been identified at depth. The exploration success rate suggests that continued exploration has the potential to progressively expand resources and reserves over decades to come; with the potential to establish Bau as one of the major goldfields of Asia."
Jugan Hill has been well defined through drilling to the current depths, the depth extent is less well defined and there remains open-ended potential to increase the resource beyond the current depth. Geophysical surveys and soil sampling campaigns have identified some nearby anomalies that will require further work and exploration/resource drilling.
The remainder of the Bau goldfield contains thirty-six prospects or known deposits which are at the Inferred level or have suitable geological potential requiring an extensive amount of follow up work and exploration or resource drilling. The goldfield also needs to be tested at depth below these deposits/prospects to fully understand the significant depth potential in line with the Carlin similarity model and concept.
Metallurgy and Process
Both the historical and recent Besra metallurgical test work on the Jugan ore deposit have demonstrated that the majority of the gold is associated with arsenopyrite and pyrite with the remaining gold present in silicious gangue material. The recovery of gold from the ore requires a gold pre-concentration step in a treatment flow sheet comprising crushing, grinding, desliming, and flotation to produce a high gold grade concentrate. For the base case and preferred option the flotation concentrate will be filtered to about 10% moisture, packaged and sent to an outside smelting or gold refining operation.
The sale of a flotation concentrates offers the lowest capital expenditure, and the lowest operating expenditure as well as the highest return on investment compared with treating concentrates on site.
As a result, significant savings will be made on capital costs and financing of the development should be attainable on more attractive terms. Besra is in discussions with Asian companies for a smelter off-take agreement, several of which have tested and confirmed their ability to process the concentrate. An indicative offer has already been received from one of the four smelters with more expected in the coming weeks.
Sarawak, Malaysia
East Malaysia provides an encouraging environment for mining and foreign investment with a 0% gold royalty and 24% corporate income tax rate. Additionally, the Bau project is located 40 km via good roads from a deep-water port in the Sarawak state capital of Kuching, and within 30 km of Kuching International Airport. High quality infrastructure and services already exist and there is a supportive and skilled Englishspeaking workforce with good education levels and significant mining or quarrying experience.
Once in production, the Bau project is estimated to be one of the top fifteen gold producing properties in Asia (ranked according to JORC/NI43-101 resources). By moving into production now, Besra can generate significant cash flow to further improve the gold field resources and reserves and take advantage of the opportunity for growth alongside the development of site infrastructure. Besra expects the property will ultimately assume a more prominent position as exploration continues to convert large-scale geological potential into resources.
A copy of the feasibility study may be downloaded from www.besra.com/bau
View the release at:
http://media.abnnewswire.net/media/en/docs/ASX-BEZ-664594.pdf
About Besra Gold Inc.:
Besra is a diversified gold mining company focused on the exploration, development and mining of mineral properties in South East Asia. The Company has four key properties; the Bau Goldfield in East Malaysia, Bong Mieu and Phuoc Son in Central Vietnam, and Capcapo in the Philippines. Besra expects to expand existing gold capacity in Vietnam over the next two years and is projecting new production capacity from Bau Central during late 2015.
Contact:
Besra Gold Inc.
James W Hamilton, Investor Relations
T: +1-416-572-2525
TF: 1-888-902-5522 (North America)
E: ir@besra.com
Steve Wilson, Corporate Communications
T: +64-9-9121765
M: +64-21675660
TF: 800-308-602 (Australia)
E: steve.wilson@besra.com