News Releases
09-Jul-2014
BCGold Corp. Receives Gold Concentrate Production Plan for Engineer Mine
read pdfVancouver, British Columbia, July 9, 2014 (TSX-V: BCG) - BCGold Corp. ("BCGold" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that is has received a detailed mine plan for continued bulk sampling, mine development and gold concentrate production at the Company’s 100% owned historic Engineer Mine, situated on patented crown grants 32 km southwest of Atlin, British Columbia.
Stratis Consultants Inc. (STRATIS), a private company with a specialty in small-scale mining and finance, was recently commissioned by BCGold to develop and market, on a non-exclusive basis, a detailed plan to provide for continued gold production from bulk sampling high-grade gold vein mineralization at Engineer Mine. The 3-year STRATIS base case proposal provides for costs and infrastructure upgrades to support obtaining a 6,000 tonne bulk sample in Year 1, for an initial investment of $2.5 million*. A further 10,000 tonnes of bulk sample material can be mined and processed in the following 2 years, at an additional cost. A final mine plan report is expected from STRATIS within 30 days. As this report is deemed an internal document, BCGold does not intend to post it on the Company website nor file it on SEDAR.
* Readers are cautioned that the Company has not completed a pre-feasibility or feasibility study which establishes mineral reserves with demonstrated economic and technical viability. Further, the Company cautions readers that any potential production may not be economically feasible and historically projects taken to production without establishing reserves through a feasibility study have a much higher risk of economic or technical failure.
BCGold management is very pleased with the STRATIS mine plan and is aggressively marketing this opportunity to qualified investors. Financing options the Company is considering include, individually or in combination, earn in, turn-key, forward sale of gold concentrate, gold royalty, streaming, or an interest bearing loan facility.
Engineer Vein Bulk Sampling and Gold Concentrate Production Opportunity
In 2011, BCGold successfully mined and on-site milled 246 tonnes of bulk sample material from the Engineer vein and produced 867 kg of gravity concentrate that was monetized for US$107,000 - see BCGold news releases dated February 27, 2012 and June 26, 2012. Bulk sampling from Level 5 included a 68.9 tonne sample grading 44.6 g/t Au, and resulted in the discovery of two high-grade gold-shoots that extend downward to at least Level 7, partially outside of the Inferred Resource of the Engineer vein. A subsequent mine de-watering program conducted by the Company in 2012 confirmed the presence of these high-grade gold shoots on Levels 6 and 7, and re-established the presence of a third, which is cut off by a dyke on 5 Level. On the Engineer Vein between 5 and 7 Levels, BCGold has defined a potential bulk sample target that could contain between 12,000 to 17,000 ounces of gold, grading between 30g/t to 60 g/t Au, in 8,000 to 14,000 tonnes of vein material(**).
Engineer Vein Bulk Sampling and Gold Concentrate Production Opportunity
In 2011, BCGold successfully mined and on-site milled 246 tonnes of bulk sample material from the Engineer vein and produced 867 kg of gravity concentrate that was monetized for US$107,000 - see BCGold news releases dated February 27, 2012 and June 26, 2012. Bulk sampling from Level 5 included a 68.9 tonne sample grading 44.6 g/t Au, and resulted in the discovery of two high-grade gold-shoots that extend downward to at least Level 7, partially outside of the Inferred Resource of the Engineer vein. A subsequent mine de-watering program conducted by the Company in 2012 confirmed the presence of these high-grade gold shoots on Levels 6 and 7, and re-established the presence of a third, which is cut off by a dyke on 5 Level. On the Engineer Vein between 5 and 7 Levels, BCGold has defined a potential bulk sample target that could contain between 12,000 to 17,000 ounces of gold, grading between 30g/t to 60 g/t Au, in 8,000 to 14,000 tonnes of vein material(**).
** The potential quality and grade of this exploration target is conceptual in nature, as there has been insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource and that it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the target being delineated as a mineral resource.
BCGold Corp. owns a 100% interest in the Engineer Mine property with no underlying royalties. The Company holds all necessary operating permits to dewater the mine workings, and mine and mill an initial 4,000 tonne bulk sample. The Company will apply to increase the bulk sample tonnage permit on an as needed basis.
About Engineer Mine
Engineer Mine was a high-grade gold producer that came to peak production in the mid-1920s and ceased operation in the early 1930s. More than 560 kg (18,000 oz) of gold and 278 kg (8,950 oz) of silver were officially produced at realized grades exceeding 39 g/t Au and 20 g/t Ag, primarily from the Engineer and Double Decker veins on six of eight mine levels. There is more than 5,500 m of underground development in place, which provide access to seven high-grade gold veins and two bulk tonnage mineralized shear zones. Surface exploration work has shown there are 25 known veins on the property. All veins remain open at depth and little exploration has been conducted deeper than 200 m below surface.
BCGold Corp. has incurred $4.0 million in acquisition, exploration and development expenditures at the Engineer Mine since 2007. The Company’s work includes the definition of an NI43-101 Inferred Mineral Resource of 41,000 tonnes grading 19.0 g/t Au, representing remnant portions of the Engineer and Double Decker veins down to 8 Level (see news release dated March 4, 2011).
The Engineer gold veins feature a rare vanadium mica similar to roscoelite, which is associated with some large epithermal gold systems (e.g., the Porgera Gold Mine, Papua New Guinea, and the Emperor Gold Mine, Fiji). At the Porgera Mine, roscoelite accompanies coarse-grained gold in late veins in an epithermal system occurring within thinly bedded marine sedimentary rocks (as at Engineer Mine), central to a much larger and lower grade intrusive stock. The Engineer mineralizing system has not been explored to any significant lateral or depth extent by modern methods or drilling. The importance of the vanadium mineral has been known since the 1920’s when the first miners of the Engineer vein noted the extremely rich mica-electrum pockets measured in the ounces of gold per pound, instead of per ton. BCGold collected 18 kg of this high-grade mineralization during the 2011 bulk sampling program. A number of these specimens were quickly sold privately to mineral specimen collectors.
The Engineer Mine deposit consists of a series of bonanza grade, epithermal gold quartz-carbonate veins occurring adjacent to a semi-brittle and brittle shear zone splay of the crustal-scale Llewellyn fault. The recently expanded 3,537 hectare property overlays >8 kilometres of shear structures known to host significant widths of gold-bearing hydrothermal breccias, (drill hole BCGE 08-07 intersected 34 metres averaging 0.45 g/t gold in Shear A). In addition, coincidental gold-in-soil geochemical, magnetic and resistivity anomalies have been defined immediately south of the mine workings in an area measuring 1.0 km2. These anomalies may represent the intrusive core to the Engineer Mine epithermal gold system, and have not been drill tested. These shear structures and postulated intrusive centre have the potential to host a significant bulk-tonnage epithermal gold deposit, and BCGold is formulating plans to drill test these targets in 2014, subject to financing.
Paul Wojdak, P.Geo., Vice President of Exploration for BCGold and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical contents of this news release.
About BCGold
BCGold is a Vancouver-based junior resource company focused on copper and gold exploration in under-explored, historic and emerging mining districts in British Columbia and Yukon. The Company acquires
and develops conceptual, early and mid-stage exploration opportunities and advances them towards resource development. BCGold has generated 27 early to mid-stage gold and copper-gold properties in British Columbia and Yukon.
BCGold’s primary gold asset is the 100% owned, historic high-grade gold Engineer Mine property, where the Company has defined a gold concentrate production opportunity through continued exploration, bulk sampling and on-site milling. The Company has recently consolidated its land position at Engineer Mine, acquiring key claims believed to partially overlay the source area for the Engineer Mine gold mineralizing system. The Company’s strategy at Engineer Mine is to focus exploration for an economic shear-hosted gold deposit and to continue efforts to secure a qualified partner to finance the gold concentrate production opportunity.
On behalf of the Board of Directors,
Brian P. Fowler, P. Geo.
President & CEO
For further information, please contact:
Brian P. Fowler
Tel: 604-697-2401
Email: [email protected]
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Some statements in this news release contain forward-looking information or forward-looking statements for the purposes of applicable securities laws. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to contemplated financings, use of proceeds of financings, reorganizations and exploration, development and production activities. These statements address future events and conditions and, as such, involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the statements. Such factors include, among others, the timing and completion of contemplated financings, the actual use of proceeds, receipt of regulatory approvals, the completion of reorganizations and the timing and success of future exploration, development and production activities. In making the forward-looking statements, the Company has applied several material assumptions including, but not limited to, the assumptions that: (1) the proposed exploration and development of its mineral projects will proceed as planned; (2) market fundamentals will result in sustained metals and minerals prices and (3) any additional financing needed will be available on reasonable terms. The Company expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise except as otherwise required by applicable securities legislation.