Resource World Magazine

40 www.resourceworld.com o c t o b e r / n o v e m b e r 2 0 1 5 miNiNG Backed by, nordgold [NORD-LSE], Columbus Gold [CGT-TSXV, CBGDF- OTCQX] is quickly advancing to potentially become one of the next gold producers in the Americas. The company has advanced exploration and development projects in French Guiana and Nevada. While a large number of mineral explorers are struggling to maintain their exchange listings, Columbus Gold boasts almost $5 million in working capital and no debt. Over the past year, Columbus has closed two financings totaling approxi- mately $7.4 million with a strategic investor group, minimizing dilution by not providing share warrants. It also has a third party financed, non-diluting option agreement on its flagship asset in French Guiana with Nordgold, a diversified, low- est cost quartile gold producer operating nine mines in four countries. Nordgold is earning a 50.1% interest in Columbus Gold's Paul Isnard Project in French Guiana, by funding a minimum of US $30 million in expenditures and completing a bankable feasibility study by March 2017. A Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) was recently completed at the project. The Feasibility Study has already been put out for tender and is expected to be completed by Q4 2016. Lending additional credibility to Columbus Gold's projects is the fact that another sophisticated investor, Sandstorm Gold, purchased a 1.0% net smelter return in 2013 for US $5 million. Columbus is the project operator at the Paul Isnard Project, and earns a 10% oper- ator fee on certain expenditures. Since the beginning of its involvement with the gold project to June 30, 2015, Columbus has invested a total of $52.9 million. Nordgold will have funded a total of approximately $28 million in the project by the end of 2015. The project is located in a major green- stone belt in the northwest portion of French Guiana, an overseas department of France that borders northeastern Brazil. A large part of the department's economy derives from the presence of the French Guiana Space Centre, one of the European Space Agency's primary launch sites. Gold mining accounted for about 32% of the department's exports in 2012. The Montagne d'Or gold discovery, part of the larger Paul Isnard Project, is classi- fied as a VMS gold deposit which consists of tabular mineralized bodies that extend along a strike length of at least 2,500 metres and to a vertical depth of at least 200 metres. Only a small portion of the gold mineralization has been oxidized. Mineral resources fall within two catego- ries: indicated and inferred, with the former representing the largest component by far. The recent PEA resource estimate includes 83.24 million tonnes grading 1.455 g/t gold, representing 3.89 million ounces. Inferred resources are 22.37 million tonnes averaging 1.55 g/t or 1.115 million ounces gold. All resources are at a 0.4 g/t cutoff. The PEA also indicated positive eco- nomic results for the Montagne d'Or deposit including an after-tax Net Present Value (5%) of US $450 million, an after-tax IRR of 23%, and approximately 273,000 ounces gold produced per year in the first 10 years of production at an all-in sustain- ing capital cost/oz of US $711. The 2015 budget for the Montagne d'Or Project of about US $10 million will include: 8,000 metres of core drilling to upgrade indicated resources to measured; a 6,500-metre RC drill program to define near surface resources in a saprolite layer; and 5,000 metres of condemnation drill- ing. This work is expected to generate approximately US $635,000 in operator management fees for Columbus. Meanwhile in Nevada, Columbus is conducting a major exploration program on its Eastside Project 20 miles west of the mining town of Tonopah on Highway US 95. The current drill program is being run by Andy Wallace, credited for multiple discoveries, of which nine reached the pro- duction stage. The program consists of 250 rotary holes of which 175 holes totaling about 45,000 metres are planned. The Original Target at Eastside hosts a large zone of shallow oxide gold mineral- ization that is still open to the south and measures about 1,600 metres long and up to 600 metres wide. The claim block cov- ers all rhyolite flow dome complexes with associated hydrothermal alteration and any other targets with significant gold values in surface sampling. Mapping has identified 41 separate rhyolite domes, which Columbus believes to be significant for potentially controlling gold mineraliza- tion at Eastside on a district level size. "On September 22, Columbus announced results for 51 widely spaced holes (12,298 metres) at Eastside, most of which com- pleted or hit the intended target, intersected gold mineralization, and returned signifi- cant gold results. 17 of the holes bottomed in gold." n Columbus Gold on fast track to production by David Duval Nordgold CEO, Nikolai Zelenski, left, and Columbus Gold CEO, Robert Giustra, at a drill site at the Paul Isnard gold project in French Guiana. Photo courtesy Columbus Gold Corp.

• Cover