Bravada Gold Corporation (TSXV: BVA) has released an significantly updated, independent Resource and Phase I Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) for its Wind Mountain Gold/Silver Property in Washoe County, Nevada.
“We have taken a phased approach to development at Wind Mountain. Phase I takes advantage of a pad space adjacent to the modelled mining operation,” President Joe Kizis said.
“The increased grade verified in the Breeze pit area by drilling during 2021 provides increased cash flow during the early years of production, providing the benefit that cash flow should fund sustaining capital required in year 3.
The 2022 Pit-constrained resource would be depleted by about 62% during Phase I and a probable Phase II pad site has been identified north of the Phase I pad. Capital costs to activate Phase II should be reasonable and potentially funded by cash flow. There are several fault blocks of outcropping mineralization based on surface sampling uphill from the Phase II pad that have not been tested by drilling except for results from several encouraging shallow drill holes at North Hill.
“Although the North Hill targets are not expected to contain a large number of ounces, they would be very inexpensive to mine due to being at or near surface and to transport to an adjacent Phase II pad.
“We focused on the Phase I area first because it contains better-than-average grades in the early years of the mine plan and has been drill tested to mostly oxidised Indicated categories, so it could be potentially quickly upgraded to Reserve Category with a Pre-feasibility study.
“Operational advantages for development of Wind Mountain include its location in a sparsely populated region of northwestern Nevada (less than a two-hour drive from Reno), county-maintained roads, power lines to the property, location six miles from a geothermal power station, and no known environmental or archaeological impediments.”
Highlights
- The Phase I PEA includes a 30.3million ton capacity leach pad, roughly 62% of the updated, Pit-constrained Resource tons, taking advantage of a leach-pad site adjacent to the modeled open pit.
- A potential Phase II pad site directly north of Phase I is being evaluated to include additional Pit-constrained Resource as well as adjacent, under-drilled outcropping mineralization at North Hill.
- The PEA and Pit-constrained Resource were modelled with three-year, trailing average prices of US$1,750 for gold and $21 for silver.
- The Pit-constrained Resource consists of:
- 46million tons at 0.010 oz Au per ton and 0.26 oz Ag per ton containing 474,000ounces of Au and 11,807,000ounces of Ag in the Indicated Category; and
- 2.6million tons at 0.008 oz per ton Au and 0.19 oz Ag per ton containing 21,900ounces of Au and 497,000ounces of Ag in the Inferred Category.
- The Phase I PEA consists of 96% of the gold ounces in the Indicated Resource Category, acceptable for Pre-feasibility study.
- Compared to the company’s independent 2012 Resource/PEA study, the Phase I PEA considers only a portion of the pit-constrained Resource that will fit onto a restricted area available as a close-in heap-leach pad site; 30.3million tons (31% less than the 2012 model, which utilised a pad space located much farther from the mine) and produces 227,000 ounces of Au-eq (29% less than the 2012 model pit).
- Even with fewer tons being mined, Initial Capital increased by 3% to $46MM, with most of the Sustaining Capital in year 3.
- The strip ratio was reduced by 23% to 0.55:1 waste to ore and the payback period was reduced 15% to 1.9 years in the current Phase I study.
- Higher grades predicted and then verified by 2021 drilling resulted in better grades in early years and conversion of certain Inferred blocks into Indicated blocks, improving economics.
- The strip ratio may be reduced further with additional test work as 1.1million tons of historic “waste rock” that must be removed in Phase I can be removed and stored on a low-grade stockpile. The material is currently not considered part of the Resource but limited sampling and drilling suggest it may contain recoverable gold, which may be processed on the Phase I heap pad.
- The economics of the Phase I PEA have improved significantly compared to the 2012 PEA despite higher costs for capital and many operating costs. The AFTER-TAX IRR is 38% (an 81% improvement over the 2012 IRR of 21%) and the AFTER-TAX NPV @5% discount is $46.1million (a 74% improvement over the earlier NPV @5% of $26.5MM).
For further information please visit: https://bravadagold.com/
