North of 60 Mining News - The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North

Rockhaven Resources Ltd. March 1 released results of a preliminary economic assessment for its Klaza gold property in southern Yukon Territory.

The PEA envisions using a combination of open pit and underground techniques to mine the 9.4 million metric tons of inferred resources averaging 4.48 grams per metric ton gold, 89.02 g/t silver, 0.95 percent zinc and 0.75 percent lead at Klaza.

The material would be processed through a 1,500-metric-ton-per-day flotation-pressure oxidation-leach process plant.

Over 14 years, a mine at Klaza is projected to produce 630,000 ounces gold, 11,364,000 oz. silver, 52.46 million pounds zinc and 51.23 million lbs. lead.

The capital costs to develop the mine envisioned in the PEA are estimated to be C$262 million, which includes C$34 million in contingency costs; and life-of-mine sustaining capital costs total C$96 million.

The average life-of-mine operating cash costs are estimated to be US$652 per gold-equivalent oz. produced and total all-in sustaining cost are US$966 per gold-equivalent oz. Using a base case gold price of US$1,200 per oz. and an exchange rate of C$1.00 equal to US75 cents, the economic assessment estimates this mine at Klaza would produce a pre-tax net present value (five percent discount) of C$150 million with a pre-tax internal rate of return of 20 percent, a post-tax NPV (five percent discount) of C$86 million and a post-tax IRR of 14 percent.

Rockhaven believes further metallurgical work, resource expansion and infill drilling have the potential to enhance the economics of mining Klaza.

"The receipt of a positive PEA demonstrating strong economics over a long mine-life is a major milestone for Rockhaven," said Rockhaven President and CEO Matt Turner.

"We see numerous opportunities to further enhance the economics through additional studies and exploration with a high probability for resource expansion and good potential for new discoveries across the property.

Furthermore, we take great pride in how the study has incorporated socio-economic sensitivities brought to us by both First Nations and the citizens of the local village of Carmacks.

We will now focus on advancing the Klaza project toward pre-feasibility through additional exploration, environmental permitting and further studies."

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Shane Lasley, Publisher

Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.

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