La Bolsa Deposit - has a PEA and some sort of permitNOTE: There is no guarantee that this is one of the 4 properties Pan American will offer to Kootenay. We might have a chance though, as it is probably to small for a big company like Pan American Silver. Also, Pan American tried selling it to Esperanza Resources previously, but Esperanza was then acquired by Alamos Gold (see below).
However, if offered, this is definitely one of the properties I would like to see Kootenay select. Given the somewhat low start up capex, they may even want to look at the idea of fast tracking it into production themselves (instead to giving it to a J/V partner).
It has good economics for a 40,000 oz per year heap leach gold operation. It has a 629,000 oz resource (405K in M&I and 225K in Inferred) and 9.2 million ounces of silver, but with opportunities to grow the resource. The 2010 PEA has it only costing $31.4 million in initial start up expenditures. This includes $7.0 million of initial working capital. As such, the initial hard capital to build the mine was only sized at $24.4 million in 2010. It will be a bit more now, with inflation and all.
It seems to be close to being ready for development. There is some sort of permit in place. It almost seems like it`s a mining permit for the oxide ore, but I`m not exactly sure.
The PEA was done at US$850 and US$1,200 gold prices.
In early 2013 Pan American made a deal with Esperanza Resources to sell 3 properties, including La Bolsa, in exchange for a large number of Esperanza common shares. In mid 2013 Esperanza was acquired by Alamos Gold and the deal with Pan American was terminated. La Bolsa remained with Pan American Silver.
This is what Esperanza had to say about La Bolsa:
``The La Bolsa gold project is a permitted oxide gold deposit located in northern Sonora, Mexico. La Bolsa is currently engineered for construction as an 8,500 tonne per day conventional open-pit mine with low cost heap-leach processing capable of producing over 40,000 ounces of gold per year at robust economics. The known mineralized deposit at La Bolsa remains open, both downdip and along strike with additional prospective targets within the existing claim blocks.`` Minefinders issued the PEA news release in 2010:
``The study contemplates conventional open-pit mining methods at La Bolsa with low-cost heap-leach processing. Throughput is projected at 8,500 tonnes of ore per day with two-stage crushing and gold and silver recovery achieved through a carbon absorption recovery system. The minable reserve, using prices of $825 per ounce of gold and $14 per ounce of silver contains 316,135 ounces of gold and 4.5 million ounces of silver. Assuming average recoveries of 72% for gold and 7% for silver, the total production from La Bolsa is estimated at 227,600 ounces of gold and 315,100 ounces of silver over a six year mine life. The life of mine reserve strip ratio is estimated at 1.9 to 1 waste to ore and the operating strip ratio is estimated at 1.5 to 1 waste to ore, net of capitalized pre-stripping.
"The La Bolsa project has several favourable characteristics, including a low waste-to-ore ratio, amenability to heap-leach processing, and close proximity to infrastructure," said Mark Bailey, President and Chief Executive Officer. "We consider the results of the pre-feasibility study a positive step toward advancing the La Bolsa gold deposit to a production decision. Over the next several months we will consider our options to realize value from La Bolsa."
La Bolsa Mine Economics
Base case metal price assumptions of $850 per ounce of gold and $14 per ounce of silver were used in the economic analysis. The initial capital cost is $31.4 million, which includes $7.0 million of initial working capital with life of mine sustaining capital costs of $12.5 million or $2.3 million net of $10.2 million of capital recoveries.``
https://www.marketwired.com/press-release/minefinders-reports-la-bolsa-project-economics-and-reserves-tsx-mfl-1286975.htm