International Tower Hill appoints feasibility study team for Alaska gold project
International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. [ITH-TSX, THM-NYSE] has announced the appointment of a feasibility study team for its Livengood gold project north of Fairbanks, Alaska.
The company also said core drilling (3,000 metres) to support the feasibility study has commenced at Livengood. It said the contractor has mobilized two rigs and has begun drilling its initial large-diameter PQ core holes within the 13.6 million ounce measured and indicated resource, which includes 9.0 millon ounces of proven and probable gold reserves. The drilling program is designed to provide representative fresh ore samples for advanced metallurgical testing and process optimization work.
The company siad the metallurgical test work on this fresh core will focus on evaluating opportunities to enhance gold recoveries and overall project economics in the context of a substantially higher gold price than the US$1,680 per ounce assumption utilized in the company’s prior study.
On Wednesday, International Tower Hill shares eased 1.8% or $0.07 to $3.38. The shares trade in a 52-week range of $4.94 and 91 cents.
International Tower Hill controls 100% of the Livengood Gold Project. The company said it ranks as the largest North American gold-only deposit that is not wholly-owned by a producer. The project hosts a measured and indicated resource of 704.5 million tonnes of grade 0.60 g/t gold or 13.6 million contained ounces. On top of that is an inferred resource of 16 million tonnes of grade 0.40 g/t gold or 207,000 ounces.
A portion of those mineral resources have been converted to proven reserves of 430.1 million tonnes of grade 0.65 g/t or just over 9.0 million ounces.
Livengood is a large but low-grade deposit and in order to be viable requires the recovery of gold at a low per-tonne unit cost. The company has said the highway near the project is a major positive factor that will reduce initial development costs and project timing. The project has been the site of near continuous placer mining for the last 90 years. Livengood is envisioned to be a high-volume mining operation similar to the Fort Knox mine, located 75 kilometres to the southeast.
The operation is expected to generate approximately 1,000 direct jobs during the construction phase and over 350 direct operational jobs for the life of the mine, currently assumed to last approximately 23 years.
Based on a pre-feasibility study dated April, 2017, the project breaks even at a gold price of US$1,231 an ounce.
Earlier this year, International Tower Hill announced that Paulson & Co. Inc. has agreed to purchase US$40 million worth of common shares in a private placement. Paulson currently owns a 39.9% stake in the company, according to Tower Hill’s latest presentation.