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a p r i l / m a y 2 0 1 5 www.resourceworld.com 41 S preading political risk and creat- ing synergies between mining and processing is what smart mining companies do and PanTerra Gold Ltd. [PGI-ASX] falls into the smart category. The New South Wales-based company, which is operating the Las Lagunas tail- ings reprocessing project in the Dominican Republic, has recently announced a pre- development and earn in agreement with Canarc Resource Corp. [CCM-TSX; CRCUF-OTC; CAN-FSE] to develop the latter's New Polaris underground mine in northwest British Columbia, near the Alaskan border. The New Polaris gold mine has a cur- rent resource of 1,155,000 oz gold at an impressive average grade of 12.3 g/t gold with a cut-off grade of 6 g/t. Of this resource, 519,000 oz is in the measured and indicated category and 636,000 oz is in the inferred category. Both PanTerra Gold and Canarc believe that the mine can be developed for under US $100 million. It is expected to produce high-grade refrac- tory concentrate, with gold recovery rates of around 85%. This equates to produc- tion of around 100,000 oz production a year over a 10-year mine life. The New Polaris Mine area has been well drilled (over 73,000 metres) which has confirmed an ore body of consistent grade and characteristics. The New Polaris deal will see PanTerra spend C $500,000 in the first stage over a five-month period and involve the pro- duction of concentrate from ore samples to be processed at Xstrata's plant in Brisbane, Australia. This stage will also involve a technical and economic review of the pro- posed mine. After this first stage, PanTerra will have 60 days in which to elect to pro- ceed to Stage 2 where C $3.5 million will be spent on, among other things, a 10,000- metre drilling program to improve the resource base. There will also be detailed design and construction planning during this stage. At the end of Stage 2, PanTerra will have earned a 20% interest in the joint venture. Stage 3 expenditures of C $6 million will be on a Definitive Feasibility Study, infill drilling and further test work. At the end of this stage, PanTerra's interest will be 50%. PanTerra Gold's 26 February 2015 announcement notes that assuming a decision to proceed to mine the company expects mine, commissioning in the sec- ond half of 2018. PanTerra Gold is in the fortunate posi- tion in that its Las Lagunas Project has an innovative processing plant which will process the New Polaris ore that will be conveniently shipped from Alaska during the summer months. The Las Lagunas plant uses the Albion Process Technology, developed by what is now Xstrata's Mount Isa Mine in Queensland. It is a sulphide oxidation process to oxi- dize refractory ores so that the recovery of precious and base metals can be achieved using conventional extraction technology, such as cyanide leaching in the case of gold. PanTerra Gold is the first company to utilize the Albion process for oxidation of refractory ore containing precious metals. PanTerra Gold anticipates an operating cost of US $700/oz gold for the production at the Las Lagunas plant. The Las Lagunas plant is itself the sub- ject of development plans by PanTerra Gold. The Las Lagunas Project involves the reprocessing of high-grade gold/sil- ver refractory tailings from the Pueblo Viejo Mine located approximately 105 km north of Santo Domingo, capital of the Dominican Republic. When PanTerra Gold purchased the project in 2012, the JORC-indicated resource was 5.13 Mt of 3.78 g/t gold, 38.6 g/t silver (620 k oz gold, 6.4 M oz silver). The remaining resource as at February 28, 2015 is approximately 3.4 Mt which means an operating life of another 4.5 years. In calendar year 2015, the company expects to produce 46,500 oz gold and 318,600 oz silver. The 2016 forecast is for the same amounts, but while this year's net profit before depreciation is US $20 million, that number is expected to increase by $4 million in 2016. The beauty of the Canarc deal is that it will extend the life of the Las Lagunas plant to 2028. The revenue generated by the Las Lagunas plant will also pay for mine development at New Polaris. n a u s t r a l i a n u p d at e G r e g B a r n s PanTerra to develop Canarc's New Polaris Mine 2014 RECIPIENT OF THE " David Barr Award for Leadership and Innovation in Mineral Exploration Health and Safety" "Safe Day Everyday Gold Award" 1.888.228.1234 • www.geotechdrilling.com