Coastal Gold to Focus on Potential Development of Underground High Grade Mineral Resource at Hope Brook
03.06.2014 | Marketwire
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired - Jun 3, 2014) - Coastal Gold Corp. (TSX VENTURE:COD)(FRANKFURT:CY41) (the "Company") announces that after a detailed review of engineering options, the Company will focus on potential development of an underground higher grade mineral resource included within the previously released mineral resource estimate for the Company's Hope Brook Gold Project in Newfoundland (see press release dated December 4, 2013). This approach takes advantage of the existing ramp that extends to a depth of 350 metres below surface and allows ready access for the potential development of existing underground mineral resources. The high grade mineral resource has been defined using a 3.0 g Au/t cutoff for the underground resource and a US$900/oz constraining shell (cutoff grade equals 0.7g Au/t) for the potential open pittable resource as follows:- Mineral resource targeted for potential underground development of 2,284,000 tonnes grading 4.43 g Au/t containing 326,000 ounces gold in the indicated category and 769,000 tonnes at 4.23 g Au/t containing 105,000 ounces gold in the inferred category.
- Potential open pittable high grade mineral resource of 8,682,000 tonnes grading 2.69 g Au/t containing 751,000 ounces gold in the indicated category.
- Overall high grade indicated mineral resource of 10,966,000 tonnes at 3.05 g Au/t containing 1,076,000 ounces gold and inferred mineral resource of 812,000 tonnes grading 4.06 g Au/t containing 106,000 ounces gold.
Dr. Bill Pearson, P.Geo., President and CEO of Coastal Gold, commented: "The overall total high grade indicated resource contains only 13% less ounces than the original reported indicated resource attesting to the excellent continuity of the Hope Brook deposit at higher cutoff grades. Underground development would facilitate follow-up drilling on potential high grade target areas already identified from our previous surface drilling, including Hole HB-11-23 which intersected 11.4 g Au/t over a true width of 20.9 metres (see press release dated April 27, 2011).
Allan Polk, P.Eng, Project Manager for the Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) at Hope Brook commented: "Focusing on a conceptual plan for development of underground resources to take advantage of the existing ramp has the potential to enable production of more ounces from less tonnage in the earlier years of the conceptual mine, thus reducing overall capital costs. The underground high grade resource is very attractive for a moderate size, bulk mining operation as it is based on a minimum five metre wide block size and in many locations the thickness is much greater. If the underground mine is successfully established, the potential open pittable resources would be integrated later into the conceptual production plan. While more engineering work is required to complete a PEA, we believe that this conceptual plan will provide the most efficient approach for potential development of Hope Brook."
High Grade Mineral Resource Estimate
The revised conceptual production approach takes advantage of the existing ramp that extends to a depth of 350 metres below surface and allows early access for the potential development of existing underground mineral resources, with development of an open pit to follow. This new concept for the project also incorporates the promising results from recent pre-sorting testwork which indicates potential for rejection of the majority of the primarily barren mafic dyke material associated with the mineralized material, prior to conventional milling. The higher grade subset of the existing mineral resource, exclusive of the mafic dyke material, has been estimated within a US$900/oz constraining shell at a 0.7 g Au/t cutoff grade and the underground resource is at 3.0 g Au/t cutoff grade as presented in Table 1.
| Table 1: High Grade Mineral Resource for Gold, Hope Brook Gold Project (included within mineral resource released December 4, 2013; see also notes below) | |||||||||
| Within constraining shell @ 0.70 g Au/t cut-off | Below constraining shell @ 3.0 g Au/t cut-off | Total | |||||||
| Category | Tonnes | Gold g/t | Gold (Oz) | Tonnes | Gold (g/t) | Gold (Oz) | Tonnes | Gold g/t | Gold (Oz) |
| Indicated | 8,682,000 | 2.69 | 751,000 | 2,284,000 | 4.43 | 326,000 | 10,966,000 | 3.05 | 1,076,000 |
| Inferred | 42,000 | 0.98 | 1,000 | 769,000 | 4.23 | 105,000 | 812,000 | 4.06 | 106,000 |
Notes
1. For further details see the independent technical report, entitled "2013 Mineral Resource Estimate, Technical Report Hope Brook Gold Project, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada" (the "Technical Report"), dated January 17th, 2014, prepared for Coastal Gold by AGP Mining Consultants Inc. ("AGP") and Mercator Geological Services Limited. The Technical Report is available under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Company's website at www.coastalgold.ca.
2. The high grade mineral resource estimate has been defined using a constraining shell at $US900/oz gold price (cutoff grade of 0.7 g Au/t) and a an underground resource below the constraining shell at a cutoff grade of 3.0 g Au/t, as compared to the original estimate which used a $1400/oz constraining shell (0.5 g Au/t cutoff) and a 2.0 g Au/t cutoff for underground resource). This high grade mineral resource for Hope Brook is a subset of the mineral resource estimate released December 4, 2013 and in the Technical Report filed on SEDAR.
3. High grade resources are undiluted with mafic dykes removed. Positive sorting tests indicate that the primarily barren mafic dyke material can be effectively removed after initial crushing. Improvements in modeling in the last resource update have allowed the dyke material to be removed as dilution from the model for mineral resource reporting.
QUALIFIED PERSONS
Pierre Desautels, P.Eng., Principal Resource Geologist, and Jay Melnyk, P.Eng., Principal Mining Engineer, both of AGP Mining Consultants and Qualified Persons under NI 43-101 who are independent of the Company, have prepared and authorized the release of the high grade mineral resource estimates presented herein. Dr. Bill Pearson, P.Geo., President & CEO of Coastal Gold, a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical content of this news release.
ABOUT COASTAL GOLD
Coastal Gold is a Canadian mineral exploration company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "COD". Coastal Gold's flag ship property is the Hope Brook Gold Project located in southwestern Newfoundland, which has 19.9 million tonnes at 1.93 g Au/t for 1,239,000 ounces of indicated mineral resources and 1.3 million tonnes at 3.22 g Au/t for 138,000 ounces of inferred mineral resources. This mineral resource includes a high grade underground resource of 2,284,000 tonnes grading 4.43 g Au/t containing 326,000 ounces gold in the indicated category and 769,000 tonnes grading 4.23 g Au/t containing 105,000 ounces gold in the inferred category. The potential open pittable high grade mineral resource is 8,682,000 tonnes grading 2.69 g Au/t containing 751,000 ounces gold in the indicated category with minor inferred resources. In addition, there are inferred mineral resources in the tailings of 4.9 million tonnes at 0.85 g Au/t and 0.09% copper containing 134,500 ounces of gold and 9.5 million pounds of copper. For further details see the Technical Report.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Information
This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements regarding the estimation of mineral resources and the anticipated results of proposed future work at Hope Brook, including a PEA. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to: general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; the actual results of current exploration activities; future prices of mineral prices; failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; accidents, labour disputes and shortages and other risks of the mining industry. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.
Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The estimate of mineral resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, sociopolitical, marketing, or other relevant issues.
The quantity and grade of inferred resources in the mineral resource estimate reported herein are uncertain in nature, there has been insufficient exploration to define these inferred mineral resources as indicated or measured mineral resources and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in upgrading them to indicated or measured mineral resources.
NEITHER TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.
Contact
Coastal Gold Corp.
Rob Hopkins, Manager, Investor Relations
416-861-5899
info@coastalgold.ca
Coastal Gold Corp.
Bill Pearson, President & CEO
416-861-2968
president@coastalgold.ca
www.coastalgold.ca