Gold Terra’s initial mineral resource estimate from the Con Mine property shows 109,000 gold ounces in the “indicated” category and 432,000 ounces of the precious metal in the “inferred” category.
In addition, Gold Terra has 1.2 million ounces of inferred resources on its adjacent YCG property, shown in a previous estimate.
In basic terminology, an inferred mineral resource has a lower level of confidence than that applied to an indicated mineral resource, according to the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum.
However, Gerald Panneton, chairman and CEO of Gold Terra, said the estimate from the Con Mine property “confirms the significant high-grade potential of this project as it remains open for further expansion in all directions, and along its six-kilometre-long structure.
“This initial (estimate) on the Con Mine option property represents a measuring stick of our progress toward satisfying one of the requirements of the option agreement with Newmont, namely delineating a potential of a minimum of 1.5 million ounces of gold in all categories,” said Panneton.
Specifically, the Con Mine site contains an underground indicated mineral resource of 0.45 million tonnes averaging 7.55 grams of gold per tonne for 109,000 ounces and a underground inferred mineral resource of two million tonnes averaging 6.74 grams of gold per tonne for 432,000 ounces.
“The Con Mine produced more than five million ounces of high-grade gold — 16 grams of gold per tonne — from the Campbell Shear structure on two kilometres of strike length alone,” said Panneton. “We strongly believe that additional drilling along strike and at depth will continue to expand the current MRE (mineral resource estimate), as all the surface drilling so far has been very successful.
“(Gold Terra) has spent approximately $6.2 million for an approximate cost of $12 per ounce of gold to date.”
This initial Con Mine property estimate entailed 41 diamond drill holes totalling 21,019 metres, completed by Gold Terra from September 2020 to June 2022, as well as all historic holes drilled before 2003, as interpreted by Gold Terra, the company stated.
The estimate fulfils a condition of the option agreement with Con Mine property owner Newmont Corporation, moving Gold Terra closer to being in position to acquire the site.
Under the agreement, signed in November 2021, Gold Terra has agreed to incur an $8-million exploration fee over a period of four years, which will include all exploration expenditures incurred to date under the initial exploration agreement.
Gold Terra will still need to obtain all necessary regulatory approvals for the purchase and transfer of the Con Mine property assets and liabilities and post a cash bond to “reflect the status of the Con Mine reclamation plan at the time of closing.”
The closing of the transaction will then be completed upon Gold Terra making a final payment of $8 million.
