Treasury aims for gold production in Ontario

Treasury Metals Inc. [TML-TSX; TSRMF-OTCQX; TRC1-FSE] on Tuesday February 2 announced the results of a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for the company’s Goliath Gold Complex, which includes the Goliath, Goldlund and Miller deposits. They are located along a prospective 65-km trend in northwestern Ontario.

The company said the PEA demonstrates the potential to develop a low-cost 5,000 tonnes/day combined open pit and underground mining operation with strong economics and the opportunity for significant benefit for the company, Indigenous Nations and local stakeholders.

The PEA foresees a mine life of 13 years, with average annual gold production during the first nine years of 102,000 ounces and total life of mine recovered gold of 1.1 million ounces. It also envisages a low capital intensity project with pre-production capital cost of $233 million and pre-tax payback period of less than two years.

“With the announcement of the PEA results today, combined with the receipt of the federal Environmental Assessment approval in 2019, we have confirmed the Goliath Gold Complex has sufficient critical mass and we expect Treasury Metals to become one of Ontario’s next gold producers,” said Jeremy Wyeth, President and CEO of Treasury Metals.

“The project is underpinned by a high-quality resource, and we have taken a conservative approach to resource estimation, with the total measured and indicated ounces virtually unchanged from previous estimates,” he said. “We also see significant exploration potential across our 330-square-kilometre land package.”

In June 2020 Treasury Metals struck a deal to acquire all the issued and outstanding shares of Tamaka Gold Corp. a unit of First Mining Gold Corp. [FF-TSX; FFMGF-OTCQX, FMG-FSE], which owned the Goldlund Gold Project, which is adjacent to Treasury’s Goliath Gold Project.

The combined resource base of 2.0 million ounces of gold in the measured and indicated categories, plus an additional 1.1 million ounces of gold in the inferred category solidifies the Goliath-Goldlund Project as among the largest undeveloped gold assets in Canada.

The PEA considers a combined open pit and underground mining operation utilizing the resources in three different pit areas over the life of the mine. It is envisioned that mining will be initiated at the Goliath project due to its proximity to the processing facility and the existing federal EA approval.