TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Jan. 25, 2012) -Detour Gold Corporation (TSX:DGC) ("Detour Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to report its 2011 year-end mineral reserve and resource update for its 100% owned Detour Lake gold project in northeastern Ontario. The update includes 78% of the 2011 drilling program of 86,644 metres, which was aimed at converting inferred resources into reserves within the previous open pit (refer to press release dated January 31, 2011).
Highlights (base case using US$850/oz gold)
- A 5% increase in proven and probable open pit reserves from 14.9 to 15.6 million ounces
- A 13% increase in global measured and indicated mineral resources from 20.5 to 23.3 million ounces (inclusive of mineral reserves), and an additional 5.8 million ounces in the inferred category
- Life of mine (LOM) increased to 22 years from 21 years at mill throughput ranging from 55,000 to 61,000 tpd
- Reduction of 8% in the strip ratio from 3.9 to 3.6
Gerald Panneton, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "The mineral reserves presented today are still based on a cut-off grade of 0.5 g/t and a US$850/oz gold price. We are currently working on the details of an updated life of mine production plan based on the same engineered pit and the new reserve estimate."
"The mineral reserve increase of 5% is the result of our successful 2011 infill drilling program, which targeted the western portion of the existing pit on a 40 by 40 metres drill spacing resulting in the conversion of inferred resources into reserves. With 15.6 million ounces in reserves, the Detour Lake deposit is projected to be Canada's largest gold mining operation."
"The throughput rationalization study conducted in 2011 indicated that based on a US$1,200/oz gold price the best scenario of an expansion would be an increase in throughput from 55,000 to 75,000 tonnes per day (tpd) (processed). We are proceeding with a pre-feasibility study and related studies on the Block A near-surface resource (see press release of January 17, 2012) to establish the possibility of further increasing the gold production profile of the Company."
Detour Lake Mineral Resources
The database for this update incorporated 67,587 metres (or 78%) of the Detour Gold 2011 drilling campaign, available drilling data from section 16,500E to 17,000E from previous operators, and all previous drilling data included in the 2010 year-end update for a total of 1,134,287 metres of drilling in 6,475 holes, of which 523,270 metres is from Detour Gold's drilling campaigns.
The Ordinary Kriging (OK) block model used for the global mineral resources covers the area between sections 16,500E and 20,600E, extending an additional 500 metres to the west from the 2010 year-end block model. The table below summarizes the global mineral resources at various cut-off grades using the same parameters as last year.
Link: https://www.marketwire.com/press-release/detour-gold-reserves-increase-156-million-ounces-detour-lake-after-2011-drilling-tsx-dgc-1610718.htm