RE:Keats Oz
Malpeque2 wrote: Any GEO types have an estimate on Keats Oz in the ground?
Fair bit of drilling done there already.
Difficult question to answer due to the erratic nature of the high grade zones and given the fact there has been a lack of assays for months now. Last spring we estimated 2.4 million ounces at the main Keats Zone when they had drilled to the 285 meter down plunge direction which was less than a 200 meter vertical depth.
So they have since increased the length of the known mineralization to 530 meters in the down plunge direction or about a 300 meter vertical depth. And they have intersected zones above and below the main Keats Zone since last spring so I would think they have increased the number of ounces by 50% to somewhere between 3 and 4 million ounces just at the Keats Zone down to about the 300 meter vertical depth level based on very rough calculations. A very good start for the first year of drilling.
We never attempted a calculation on the Lotto Zone because there wasn't enough information at the time and we didn't know about the Golden Joint Zone.
Just for comparison purposes the Fosterville mine had known reserves of 1.7 million ounces in 2017 and average grade of 23 g/t and on target to produce 300k ounces in 2018 and over 500k ounces since thanks to the Swan Zone and Eagle Zones. Compare the high grade intersections below at Fosterville to those at NFG's Queensway. Very similar in grade and width. The Keats Zone is like a monster Swan Zone and they are only down to the 300 meter level. They will find a whole lot more gold as they go deeper.
Kirkland Lake has rapidly increased its output at the low-cost operation since 2015, most recently producing a record 90,618 ounces (oz) in the September quarter at grades of 25.6 grams a tonne (g/t).
This output is a 47 per cent improvement on the same period a year earlier and puts Kirkland Lake on track to reach 300,000oz at the mine in 2018, with 231,923oz produced so far this year.
Kirkland Lake’s pipeline of exploration success at Fosterville continues to support its low-cost production growth.
In September, Kirkland Lake’s latest intercepts with extremely high grades at Fosterville’s Swan zone included 289g/t gold over 7.45m, 144g/t over 11.9m, and 423g/t over 3.55m.
The wide, high-value gold intercepts at the Swan zone were returned up to 200m from its existing mineral reserves, with a key return including 83.1g/t gold over 8.6m.
September’s results at Fosterville followed a similarly exciting announcement made by Kirkland Lake in July. They back Fosterville’s potential as a new, world-class gold camp, according to the company, which is confident the site has much more to be found in terms of reserves and resources.
It will be one of the great orebodies (and) great mines of the world, to be completely frank.
Kirkland Lake vice president, Australian operations, Ian Holland reinforces the future the company envisions at Fosterville.
“I think there’s more to come from Fosterville; I think we have only just tapped the edge. It will be one of the great orebodies (and) great mines of the world, to be completely frank,” Holland says at the Prospect Awards gala dinner.
“Really, really importantly, many of the employees that have been there from the start are still there, and they have seen that journey emerge.”
Kirkland Lake will update its reserves and resources early next year, but at the end of 2017 Fosterville’s reserves stood at 1.7 million ounces at 23.1g/t.
Gold buffs will be waiting in anticipation for the update, knowing that Kirkland Lake is just getting started at the mine despite the success and accolades it has received over the past year.
The company’s long-term ambitions for the mine have been known throughout 2018 since it set an annual production target of 400,000oz by 2020 in January.
This emergence into one of Australia’s standout mining operations has been swift. In 2015, the mine produced just 123,095oz at 6.11g/t, both under half of its 2017 results (263,845oz at 15.8g/t).
Holland reminds the Prospect Awards crowd at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) that Fosterville has not always enjoyed this level of success.
“(Fosterville) has been in operation in its current phase since 2005, and over much of that journey it has been a relatively low margin business,” Holland says.
“Over the last couple of years, that has changed, and it has been a journey that has been very exciting for all of the people there.”
Kirkland Lake achieved a major inflection point at Fosterville in 2015 with the discovery of the Eagle zone, which contained high-grade visible-gold bearing mineralisation.
This breakthrough resulted in a significant improvement in Fosterville’s mineral reserve grade, production profile and unit cost performance.
Kirkland Lake continued to make exploration progress early in 2017 and more than doubled the mine’s underground reserves, while lifting the grade estimate by 83 per cent to 17.9g/t later in the year.
Holland credits the Fosterville workforce for guiding the exploration success and resultant surge in production.
“It’s not us creating the value here, it is the people working at the face,” he says. “It’s the people working underground, working on the surface, working in the mill. The same people who have been working there the whole time are working there again (now).”
Fosterville has transformed from ‘just another gold mine’ to arguably Australia’s standout site in just three years. And, most will agree, we are certain to hear much more from Kirkland Lake about this mine in the years ahead