TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Mining royalty and development company AuRico Metals has submitted its environmental assessment application for the Kemmess underground project to the British Columbia environmental assessment office (BC EAO).
"The submission of the EA marks another important milestone for the advancement of Kemess, along with the imminent release of an updated feasibility study for the Kemess underground project and an updated resource estimate for Kemess East. We look forward to the receipt of a government decision on Kemess in the fourth quarter of this year,” stated AuRico president and CEO Chris Richter on Friday.
The submission would be followed by a 30-day screening period, to ensure that the EA application was complete.
If accepted for consideration, the BC EAO would have 180 days within which to complete its review.
AuRico advised that the BC EAO was managing the environmental assessment in a substituted process on behalf of the provincial government and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency.
The Kemess underground project was located about 5.5 km north of the past-producing Kemess South mine, in north-central British Columbia.
The results from the 2013 Kemess underground feasibility study outlined the development of an underground block cave operation with average yearly output of 105 000 oz of gold and 44-million pounds of copper, at cash costs of $213/oz of gold, net of by-product credits, over a mine-life of about 12 years.
The study assumed base case commodity price assumptions of $1 300/oz for gold, $3/lb for copper and $23/oz for silver, as well as an exchange rate at par between the greenback and Canadian dollar.
Edited by: Samantha Herbst
Creamer Media Deputy Editor
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