VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - Canada's Kinross Gold Corp. and Bema Gold Corp., said Thursday they would resume production at their stalled Refugio gold mine in Chile.
The joint partners said they expect to resume output in the fourth quarter of 2004 and would have to spend about $71 million on repairing and replacing infrastructure, and improving mine services and safety.
The market has expected the announcement as rising gold prices have made Refugio viable again. The heap-leach mine was put on care and maintenance in 2001 when gold prices dropped.
The partners said a drilling program this year had expanded gold resources at the site, extending Refugio's life to about 10 years. At a gold price of $350 an ounce, Refugio has estimated proven and probable gold reserves of 3.4 million ounces.
The mine produced between 230,000 and 260,000 ounces of gold a year, at total cash costs of about $225 an ounce.
Copyright 2003, Reuters News Service
Scuba
Fear blind us opportunity, greed blind us the danger
O Clubeinvest.com informa que nenhuma da informação
aqui facultada deverá ser entendida como conselho ou recomendação
de qualquer tipo de transacção ou investimento.
