LION My conjecture/theory/guess, is that Walter, (I like my gold in the ground) Berokoff, and the likely #1 suitor NEM would rather not have started the 300 tpd mining operation, in lieu of just continuing exploration except that the Fijian govt politely pushed them to start mining; hence Hickey & Cattalani and momentum.
This is a very good thing because these types of deposits need exploring by mining.
LION doesn’t mention the following information on its website, which is a shame because it’s so important in regards to buying into, or buying more of Lion One. Wally told me years ago that he was concerned about making ‘forward looking statements’ but I see nothing wrong with them publishing extant information.
Emperor owned and operated Vatukoula since 1958 along with exclusive interests in any surrounding deposits. In this context, Tuvatu was first discovered in 1987 and in the late 90’s Emperor made the decision to rapidly develop the deposit as an additional source of high-grade ore to feed their existing mill at Vatukoula. This is with an inflation adjusted gold price below US $400 per ounce, mind you.
By mid-2000, the company had completed extensive mine development work, including:
· Resource definition drilling totaling 87,000 meters and 605 drill holes, Over 1,600 meters of underground access tunneling, and a Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS).
In today’s money Emperor spent about US $40 million
The DFS was positive, demonstrating a commercially viable underground gold mine even at this low gold price.
Emperor commissioned numerous engineering studies utilizing its own expertise and that of recognized consulting firms . (the well known and respected Aussie firm of Bateman engineering for one.)
The report also provided JORC
https://www.jorc.org/ compliant initial reserves and resources totaling 809,000oz at impressive grades between 6.6 and 10.3 grams per tonne (g/t).
Probable Reserves of 269,000 oz. Au (1,262,000 tonnes @ 6.63 g/t Au), Indicated Resources of 289,000 oz. Au (1,065,000 tonnes @ 8.45 g/t Au) and Inferred Resources of 251,000 oz. Au (757,000 tonnes @ 10.31 g/t Au)
Unfortunately a persistently low gold price led the board to shelve the project until gold prices strengthened. In the meantime, Emperor ran into financial difficulties in the mid 2000’s, ultimately divesting of its Fijian assets and merging with another Australian explorer operating in Indonesia (Intrepid Mines Ltd.) in 2008.
Mincor (primarily a nickel miner) came next and then farmed out 75% to a company called Alcaston.
the Sydney Morning Herald Feb 2005
Alcaston is planning to mine 80,000 oz au per year for 7 years at Tuvatu .
The company has an extended tenement package totalling 139 square kilometres.
Alcaston managing director David Porter said there was "excellent potential" to expand the current gold resource in the immediate vicinity, (of Tuvatu).
The acquisition follows an extensive global search by Alcaston over several years in a very competitive market, he said.
"We believe that Tuvatu has such potential (to develop relatively quickly into a producing mine), together with excellent exploration upside, and will underpin a significant re-rating for Alcaston in the coming months," Mr Porter said.
Emperor completed a mining feasibility study in 2000 but decided not to proceed with the project, mainly for internal reasons and the low gold price at the time, Alcaston said.
The study was based on a gold price of $US285 an ounce, compared with $US420 currently.
Mr Porter said Alcaston's own due diligence, including a preliminary scoping study, suggested the existing resources could support production of 80,000 ounces a year over a seven year mine life.
"This does not take into account the very significant exploration upside at Tuvatu and in the combined Alcaston/Emperor tenement package, which contains at least nine significant gold prospect areas defined to date," he said.
A few years later, Alcaston changed it’s name to Golden Rim Resources which did valuable exploration in the caldera but they seem to have been underfunded, didn’t complete their plans, and later joined with a middle eastern firm to look for other metals than gold around the world. (gold was still cheap then compared with today.)
So what all of this means, imo, is that LION, NEM and others likely know that the Tuvatu mine could produce 3 x the 300 tpd as planned, particularly with all of the new finds since 2010 when LIO took over. (the deep zones, extensions of known lodes, the discoveries at Jomaki, Ura Creek, Nubudnike etc) the 3km long HT Corridor, new lodes discovered, and the excellent results from the present infill drilling programs.
Everyone should do their own DD and then be right/sit tight.