Las Lagunas, Dominican Republic
The 100% owned Las Lagunas project involves the reprocessing of high grade gold/silver refractory tailings from the Pueblo Viejo mine located approximately 105km to the north of Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean.
The tailings were derived from open pit operations at the mine between 1992 and 1999, and are impounded in a purpose-built valley-catchment dam. The mine is being redeveloped by Barrick Gold Corp at a cost in excess of US$3.5 billion.
The tailings were generated through the processing of refractory ores by Rosario Dominicana S.A, a State owned mining corporation. The refractory nature and metallurgical complexity of the ore resulted in poor recoveries (<30%) of gold and silver when treated by the conventional carbon-in-leach/cyanidation process plant then in place for oxide ore that had previously been mined, resulting in significant tonnages of refractory tailings with +3.5g/t gold being piped to the Las Lagunas dam.
PanTerra Gold's subsidiary, EnviroGold (Las Lagunas) Limited, was successful in an international tender and signed a Contract with the Dominican State in 2004 granting it the right to reprocess the tailings under a profit sharing arrangement with the Government.
Under this arrangement, EnviroGold (Las Lagunas) Limited will not pay income tax in the Dominican Republic, but will share 25% of its operating profit with the Government after the Company has recovered approximately US$65 million of direct investment in the country for plant and equipment.
The project involves the reclamation of the existing tailings by dredging, ultrafine grinding, concentration of gold bearing sulphides through flotation followed by sulphide oxidation using the Albion process, prior to extraction of gold and silver utilising standard carbon-in-leach cyanidation.
The project has a JORC Indicated Resource of 5.137mt of ore grading 3.8g/t gold and 38.6g/t silver.
Extensive feasibility studies were carried out in 2005-2007 followed by detailed engineering of the Albion/CIL plant which will process 800,000tpa of tailings per annum for 6.5 years. Based on pilot plant test work, PanTerra Gold anticipates annual production of 69,000 oz Au and 630,000 oz Ag. The first gold pour was achieved late July 2012.
Since signing the agreement with the Dominican State, the PanTerra Gold Group has spent approximately US$100 million on the project, including resource definition, metallurgical testwork, pilot plant studies, feasibility studies, engineering, siteworks, procurement of mechanical and electrical equipment, plant construction, project management, administration, holding costs, and acquisition of a minority interest.
The completed process plant is in its final stage of ramp-up at its targetted throughput of 100tph, and following a period of steady state operation, production costs of approximately US$350 per oz Au equivalent are anticipated.
The project has been funded by a US$37.5 million loan from Macquarie Bank Limited, and facilities totalling US$7.5 million from BanReservas (Dominican Republic Government-owned Bank).
Macquarie Bank also paid the PanTerra Gold Group US$7.5 million to purchase a 3% gold royalty for the life of the project, which was advanced to the development.
The Las Lagunas project is situated within a significant mineralised belt and the Company's Albion/CIL plant could provide treatment opportunities for refractory gold properties in the region. PanTerra Gold's La Paciencia prospect (8600 ha concession 10 km east of Barrick's 25 million oz refractory gold deposit at Pueblo Viejo), may provide feed to the Las Lagunas plant in the future.
Photos
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Photographs updated September 2012
The information in this document that relates to Indicated Resources at the Las Lagunas project is based on information compiled by Rick Adams, BSc MAusIMM MAIG, Director Geological Resource Services for Cube Consulting, who is a consultant to PanTerra Gold Limited. Mr Adams is a Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2004 Edition of the ‘Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves’. Mr Adams consents to the inclusion in the document of the matters based on information in the form and context in which it appears.
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Located approximately 105km to the north of Santo Domingo
