A Number Of Fast-Track Options Underway At Brazilian Gold Project
Big River Gold Ltd (ASX: BRV) has commenced an active programme designed to de-risk and advance the Borborema Gold Project (BGP) and explore the promising upside in surrounding area.
Since receiving its first Tranche of funds from a Placement of A$20 million in December 2020, the company has also begun investigating plant design options that would better facilitate future expansion opportunities at BGP.
Executive Chairman, Andrew Richards, said Big River will be well funded to allow the acceleration of key civil works while also conducting a more in-depth review of critical issues to ensure the BGP incorporates the most efficient capital spend to extract maximum value from the project.
The mine plan as outlined in the July 2020 Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) is to commence with a processing plant designed with a throughput of 2 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) and anticipates a future expansion to a throughput of up to 4Mtpa. Any future expansion will be subject to ongoing economic and technical studies and the availability of sufficient process water.
However, the BGP currently holds permits for a 4Mtpa operation and it is the Boards view that an expansion up to that level would be a better match for a project that comprises 42.4Mt reserves containing 1.61M oz gold. That reserve figure excludes any of the 17Mt contained within the inferred resource category.
The option review seeks to ensure that the current DFS plant design is best suited for any anticipated expansion without incurring excessive capital costs or disruption to production that could be prevented by improved planning and provisions now.
Importantly the essential process path will not change but certain equipment choices and/or layout may be refined. This process is being undertaken by Wave International Ltd using previously quoted costs. It is anticipated that the initial phase will take only a few weeks although additional time may be required to bring any revisions up to the necessary level of accuracy during the first quarter of 2021.
The appointment of an EPCM contractor for project implementation will be finalised subsequent to the review.
