Resource World Magazine

J U N E / J U L Y 2 0 1 9 www.resourceworld.com 55 MINING Centerra and Premier Gold partner at Greenstone Gold Project by David Duval S trategic alliances are making a comeback as mining com- panies mitigate risk by sharing development costs and management expertise for new projects. Centerra Gold Inc. [CG-TSX] and Premier Gold Mines Ltd. [PG-TSX] – each of which owns a 50% interest in the Greenstone Gold property near Geraldton, Ontario – recently received Environmental Assessment (EA) approval for the project from the Minister of Environment, Conservation & Parks of Ontario, with concurrence from Cabinet. The Federal EA was approved last December by the Minister of Environment and Climate Change of Canada. At least in the case of Ontario's regulatory climate, industry officials are cautiously optimistic that the new Conservative gov - ernment will be more pro-development than its former liberal counterpart and agreeable to streamlining the cumbersome, time- consuming process of regulatory approval for new mineral projects. The Premier open pit discovery was made in 2009 and consists of four deposits of which the Hardrock open pit is the subject of an economic study. Centerra is sole-funding the initial $185M spend with $82.7M remaining to be expended as of March 31, 2019. In addition to receiving EA approvals from the Federal and Provincial governments, the companies are currently negotiating benefit agreements with local communities including indigenous groups. At last report an RC drill program was underway, with a new reserve and resource estimate expected later this year. Centerra is a Canadian-based gold mining and exploration company with two 100%-owned producing gold mines. These include the Kumtor Mine in the Kyrgyz Republic and the Mount Milligan Mine in central BC. A third, high-margin gold mine, the Öksüt gold project, is under construction in Turkey. Centerra also has exposure to the molybdenum market through 100%-owned Thompson Creek Metals which has two primary molybdenum mines that are currently on care and maintenance: the Thompson Creek Mine in Idaho and the Endako Mine in BC. In addition, Centerra owns the Langeloth metallurgical facility in Pennsylvania which operates as a toll processor and a purchaser of molybdenum concentrates, producing a suite of premium molybdenum products. Its portfolio of advanced-stage development properties includes a 100% interest in the Kemess Project in north-central BC which includes Kemess Underground, Kemess East and the past producer, Kemess South. Premier Gold Mines is entirely North America focused, with low cost production from two operations including a 40% inter - est in the South Arturo property in Nevada's prolific Carlin Gold Belt. A wholly-owned subsidiary of Barrick Gold owns the remaining 60%. Ongoing activities include the construction of the Phase 1 open pit and the El Niño underground mine, with initial production expected in late 2019. The partnership also continues to advance a potential heap leach option and additional deposit opportunities. Mineralized material from South Arturo is processed primarily at Barrick's Goldstrike mine located approximately 5 km to the south. The South Arturo property includes open pittable resources, including the historic Dee pit, and the El Niño underground min - eralization, both of which have high potential to expand. The mineralization at South Arturo and El Niño share many charac- teristics with the other deposits in the Carlin Trend, including geologic age, host rocks and structural setting. Premier Gold's Mercedes gold property is located 250 km north- east of Hermosillo, Mexico and 300 km south of Tucson, Arizona. Operating as a 2,000 tonne-per-day underground gold-silver mine, the project is solely owned by Premier. Several mining methods are utilized on the property including cut-and-fill and bulk methods. Since acquiring the mine, cost reduction and increasing efficiencies and throughput have been a primary focus. A number of excellent exploration targets exist on the project that could lead to a significant extension of mine life. In addition to identifying potential targets close to existing infrastructure, the focus for 2019 will be to test along several kilometres of the unexplored northwest vein systems that the existing mines sit on as well as other regional targets. Premier's Cove property hosts one of the highest-grade, unde - veloped, gold deposits in Nevada. Cove was mined by Echo Bay Mines between 1987 and 2003, with historic production of approximately 2.6 million ounces gold and 100 million ounces of silver. The Cove property is located in the Battle Mountain trend in north Nevada approximately 20 km south of Newmont's Phoenix Mine and 50 km southwest of Battle Mountain. In 2018, Premier announced a Preliminary Economic Assessment, indicating strong economics for the project. The company expects to begin construction of a ramp this year to complete delineation drilling and bulk sampling, followed by a Feasibility study. n The Hardrock headframe, part of the Premier/Centerra 50-50 joint venture on the Greenstone gold property near Geraldton, northern Ontario. Photo courtesy Premier Gold Mines Ltd.

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