Perth, Apr 21, 2006 (ABN Newswire) - The Directors of View Resources (ASX: VRE) are pleased to announce completion of reserve estimations relating to the Central open pit and stockpiles at its Bronzewing Gold Project.
These reserves represent a significant step towards the company recommencing mining at Bronzewing from mid-2006 and they will provide the initial feed to re-start the plant at its full capacity of 2.3M tonnes per annum for the first year of operations. These reserves are in addition to the recently announced 88% increase in the Cockburn underground indicated resource of 243,000 ounces.
Statement of Probable Reserves:
Tonnes (000s) Au g/t Au oz (000s)
recoverable
Central Open Pit 1,600 1.7 83
Stockpiles 1,150 0.6 20
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Total 2,750 1.26 103
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View now has over 340,000 ozs of reserve and indicated resource with none of its gold reserves or resources currently hedged. The Company is looking forward to finalising its bankable feasibility study and the recommencement of both underground and open pit operations. View is well poised to take full advantage of the current gold price of $850/ounce spot, removing risk of future falls in gold price, whilst ensuring all upside on any future price rises remain available to shareholders.
The Board expects that development and commencement of operations at the Cockburn underground will take place simultaneously with the Central open pit. Ore feed into the plant from underground production will ramp up to a capacity that will allow the Bronzewing plant to operate at a commercially viable level from underground-only by the end of 2007 when the open pit mining ends. Third party feed alternatives are being considered at present and these will be used to supplement the ore from Bronzewing to derive economies of scale within the plant.
With world class overall facilities on hand and spare capacity in the plant, camp, offices and workshops the opportunity for other regional gold resource companies to realise their assets using the Bronzewing facilities has never been better and View expects significant third party feed to present in forthcoming months.
The ability to quickly jump from a positive feasibility study outcome into production also gives Bronzewing a great advantage in the current climate.
The plant at Bronzewing remains in excellent condition on care and maintenance and as such the capital required for re-commencement of operations is low, and relates only to pre-strip in the open pit, initial underground capital development and plant recommissioning costs. This significantly reduces the overall project finance required and associated operating costs for the project.
The feasibility study relating to the underground mining at Cockburn is near to completion and the Board expects to review final reserves and financial models within the next few weeks. At this point the Board will be in a position to sign off on project finance options.
