Liberty Gold Corp. (LGD:TSX) released the results from a large-diameter metallurgical core drilling program at the Goldstrike project, the flagship of its three principal gold projects, a past-producing oxide-heap leach gold mine that contains a large, shallow, district-scale, Carlin-style gold system.
"Liberty Gold continues to meet its project enhancement goals in 2018, commencing with a maiden resource estimate released on Feb. 1," stated the company. "On July 10, 2018, Liberty Gold released a preliminary economic assessment for Goldstrike (PEA), confirming a low-capital-intensity, low-operating-cost, open-pit, run-of-mine, heap leach operation, with a 7.5-year mine life and highly attractive economics, including a post-tax net present value (5% discount rate) of US$129.5 million, internal rate of return of 29.4%, and initial capex of US$113.2 million."
To aid in further advancement of the Goldstrike property, the company undertook a large-diameter (PQ) core drilling project in order to obtain the material needed to approximately double the number of metallurgical column tests in the resource area from a current 20 columns, primarily located in the main zone, to approximately 40, located throughout the resource area. Fifteen PQ diamond core holes, totaling 1,357 meters, were completed, according to the company.
"Liberty Gold continues to execute and deliver on its commitment to advance the Goldstrike project through additional metallurgical drilling throughout the current resource area," stated the company. "The drill holes also infill targets in the dip slope and western resource zones, and results are consistent with previous RC drilling from these areas. Composite selection for column tests is underway, with final results expected in the first half of 2019."
In addition to the core drilling program, a reverse circulation program is currently underway with two drills.
To date, the company has drilled 16,000 meters, with a low all-in cost for RC drilling of only US$55/meter, well under the industry average. The program focuses on infill and expansion of the resource; testing of the historic heap leach, stockpile and waste dump areas that are largely situated within the PEA pit and counted as waste in the model; and testing of new targets property wide.
"An amendment to the current plan of operations to grant access to an additional greater than 878 acres in and adjacent to the resource area is expected in the final quarter of 2018," said the company.
The Goldstrike mine is located in the eastern Great Basin, immediately adjacent to the Utah/Nevada border, and is a Carlin-style gold system, similar in many ways to the prolific deposits located along Nevada's Carlin Trend. Goldstrike represents, like Kinsley Mountain and Newmont's Long Canyon deposit, part of a growing number of Carlin-style gold systems located off the main Carlin and Cortez trends in underexplored parts of the Great Basin.
"The historic Goldstrike mine operated from 1988 to 1994, with 209,000 ounces of gold produced from 12 shallow pits, at an average grade of 1.2 g/t Au and an average recovery of approximately 75%," stated the company.
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