CHINA: CONCERNS OVER SLOWING DEMAND ARE OVERBLOWN, AUSSIE ANALYST SAYS / 11 Geotech_Earlug_2015_VTEM_Colour3.pdf 1 2015-09-25 9:59:47 AM
VTEM™ ZTEM™ Gravity Magnetics Radiometrics Data Processing Interpretation
MOUNT POLLEY
TAILINGS SPILL
BC Chief Inspector of Mines report finds Imperial Metals not liable / 5
Short Road to Silver Production/Earning TSX.V: GRG www.goldenarrowresources.com
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JANUARY 11-17, 2016 / VOL. 101 ISSUE 48 / GLOBAL MINING NEWS · SINCE 1915 / $3.99 / WWW.NORTHERNMINER.COM
Top gold performers in 2015 STANDOUTS
| Several juniors beat the odds
Pretium explores porphyry potential at Brucejack GOLD EXPLORATION
| Latest drilling leads towards the east, away from KSM system
BY SALMA TARIKH starikh@northernminer.com
S
ince the commodities downturn started four years ago, gold companies have sought ways to reduce costs and push ahead. The spot gold price ended 2015 at US$1,061 per oz., down 10% for the year and 36% since closing 2012 at US$1,664 per oz. Despite the challenging gold-price environment last year, more than a few companies registered share-price gains. The golden five Claude Resources (TSX: CRJ; USOTC: CLGRF) topped the percentage gainers, rising 148% last year to finish at 78¢. The stock is up an astonishing 457% since exiting 2013 at 14¢. Claude’s flagship asset is the Seabee gold operation, located in northeastern Saskatchewan. The operation includes the Seabee mine and the nearby Santoy mine complex, which includes the Santoy Gap and Santoy 8 deposits. In an interview, president and CEO Brian Skanderbeg notes Claude’s success has come from improving its free cash flow margin with stronger grades and better mining techniques. Two years ago Claude started using Alimak long-hole mining at Seabee, improving productivity and lowering costs. It also produced from the higher-grade Santoy Gap deposit. (Full production from the Santoy Gap should start in 2017.) With these changes, and an asset and royalty sale in 2014, Claude has improved its free cash flow position and balance sheet. Skanderbeg expects the company See TOP GOLD / 13
Warwick Board, Pretium Resources’ chief geologist, inspects a sample while conducting regional exploration at the Brucejack gold project in British Columbia. PRETIUM RESOURCES
BY LESLEY STOKES lstokes@northernminer.com VANCOUVER
W
ar w ick Board, chief geologist at Pretium Resources (TSX: PVG; NYSE: PVG), says excitement is building for exploration at the company’s Brucejack project in northwestern B.C., as his team zeroes in on discoveries within a district that compares in metal content to Grasberg, the world’s largest gold mine in Indonesia. “One of the things I always thought about before I moved to Canada is just how spectacular the rest of the Cordillera is from
“WE’RE ON THE EDGE OF FINDING THAT THIS IS ANOTHER MASSIVE MINERAL PROVINCE WITH BIG POTENTIAL.”
PM40069240
WARWICK BOARD CHIEF GEOLOGIST, PRETIUM RESOURCES
Chile, Peru and to Arizona,” Board tells The Northern Miner during a phone interview. “At the time it didn’t make sense why we’re not finding the same mineral wealth here in Canada, but now I think, ‘Wow, we’re on the edge of finding another massive mineral province with big potential.’” The company has explored its 1,030 sq. km Brucejack property
with a 20,000-metre drill program this year despite already preparing its Valley of the Kings (VOK) gold deposit on the Brucejack property for commercial production in 2017. The epithermal, vein-hosted Valley of the Kings deposit boasts proven and probable reserves of 6.9 See PRETIUM / 2
MINERAL EXPLORATION ROUNDUP 2016 JANUARY 25 – 28 • CANADA PLACE, VANCOUVER, BC REGISTER TODAY AT amebc.ca/roundup
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