{"id":1170756,"date":"2020-03-10T15:54:14","date_gmt":"2020-03-10T21:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=1016661"},"modified":"2020-03-10T15:54:14","modified_gmt":"2020-03-10T21:54:14","slug":"pretium-lowers-valley-of-the-kings-reserve-grade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1170756","title":{"rendered":"Pretium lowers Valley of the Kings reserve grade"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Pretium Resources&nbsp;has <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"released (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/s23.q4cdn.com\/277467366\/files\/doc_news\/2020\/03\/20-03-Updated-Brucejack-Mine-Mineral-Resource-Mineral-Reserve-and-LOM-P....-(1).pdf\" >released<\/a> updated resources and reserves for the Valley of the Kings zone at the Brucejack mine in British Columbia as well as an updated life of mine plan. <\/p>\n<div class='d-flex justify-content-center d-xs-block d-sm-block d-md-none'>\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0'><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0');});<\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Most notable is the 36% drop in the reserve grade for this zone down to 8.8 g\/t gold, versus the prior estimate of 13.8 g\/t.<\/p>\n<p>The resulting mine plan update forecasts life of mine annual gold production averaging 311,000 ounces over a 13-year operating life at all-in sustaining costs of $743 per ounce. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote alignright\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>Company forecasts life of mine annual gold production averaging 311,000 ounces over a 13-year operating life at all-in sustaining costs of $743 per ounce <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The prior mine plan, from April 2019, suggested gold production averaging 441,000 oz. at AISCs of $539 per ounce.<\/p>\n<p>Last month, Pretium first announced that it&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"expects to produce 325,000 oz. to 365,000 oz. of gold a year (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/pretiums-production-outlook-for-brucejack-drops-so-does-stock\/\" >expects to produce 325,000 oz. to 365,000 oz. of gold a year<\/a>&nbsp;while mining the Valley of the Kings zone at Brucejack. The latest technical report suggests average annual gold production of 367,000 oz. in the first nine years of mining.<\/p>\n<p>While expected mill throughputs and recoveries are largely unchanged, the most recent mine plan also incorporates higher labour, environmental compliance and snow removal costs.<\/p>\n<p>The updated net present value estimate for the project, at a 5% discount rate, now stands at $1.5 billion, down 42% from last year\u2019s $2.6 billion based on unchanged metal prices.<\/p>\n<p>The latest resource and reserve numbers incorporate 89,121 metres of infill drilling completed last year with a 3.5 g\/t cut-off grade for the Valley of the Kings zone, lowered to more closely resemble recently mined grades.<\/p>\n<p>Estimation parameters are now based on production reconciliations and allow greater local accuracy in the grades forecast. In addition, a call factor was applied to a portion of the reserve tonnage to reconcile this material to operating conditions.<\/p>\n<p>Resource and reserve numbers for the lower-grade West zone remain unchanged; this area is scheduled for mining in the second half of Brucejack\u2019s operating life.<\/p>\n<p>Updated Valley for the Kings reserves now total 12.8 million tonnes at 8.8 g\/t gold for a total of 3.6 million oz. with a further 2.9 million tonnes at the West zone grading 6.8 g\/t gold adding 600,000 gold oz.<\/p>\n<p>The Valley of the Kings reserves are contained within measured and indicated resources of 18.4 million tonnes grading 11.3 g\/t gold, totaling 6.7 million oz; previously at 13.7 million tonnes at 17.15 g\/t gold. <\/p>\n<p>Inferred resources within this zone now stand at 5.4 million tonnes grading 13.3 g\/t gold, compared to the 3.8 million tonnes at 17.07 g\/t suggested by the report from April 2019.<\/p>\n<p>Brucejack has been in commercial production since July 2017.<\/p>\n<p>Pretium plans to start a reverse circulation drill program in the second quarter to increase the data density for mine planning and production optimization.<\/p>\n<p><em>(This article first appeared in the&nbsp;<\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.canadianminingjournal.com\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Canadian Mining<br \/>\nJournal<\/em><\/a><em>)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Company forecasts life of mine annual gold production averaging 311,000 ounces over 13-year operating life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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