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

Racing past a milestone that marks roughly the midpoint of its planned path to production at Lawyers, Benchmark Metals Inc. completed a preliminary economic assessment in August that outlines an economically robust mine at this Northern British Columbia project that would produce 1.7 million ounces of gold and 26.7 million oz of silver over an initial 12 years of mining.

According to a calculation completed in June, the AGB, Cliff Creek, and Dukes Ridge deposits at Lawyers host 67.38 million metric tons of measured and indicated resources averaging 1.26 grams per metric ton (2.74 million oz) gold and 24.39 g/t (52.9 million oz) silver; plus 4.87 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 2.39 g/t (378,000 oz) gold and 39.41 g/t (6.2 million oz) silver.

Based on this resource, the PEA envisions ore from open-pit mines at these three deposits feeding a centrally located 10,600-metric-ton-per-day processing plant that would produce gold-silver doré on site.

At 1.47 g/t gold-equivalent, which accounts for the value of the silver in ore, the operation envisioned in the PEA would produce roughly 144,000 oz of gold per year at an all-in sustaining cost of US$824/oz, net the value of the 2.2 million oz of silver that would be produced as an annual by-product.

The initial capital to develop this operation is estimated to be C$493 million (US$384 million), which includes C$72.8 million (US$56.7 million) in contingency, and the life-of-mine capital requirements are estimated at C$632 million (US$492 million).

At an average gold price of US$1,735/oz and silver price of US$21.75/oz, this operation is estimated to generate an after-tax net present value (5% discount) of C$577 million (US$449 million) and an internal rate of return of 23.5%.

The capital payback period is estimated at 2.7 years.

"The PEA clearly demonstrates the low cost and robust return of the Lawyer's gold-silver project even when stress tested with considerable contingency in the base case," said Benchmark Metals CEO John Williamson.

Encouraged by the outcome of the PEA, Benchmark is forging ahead with a feasibility study that is slated for completion before the end of the year.

This includes drilling to expand the resources around the deposits considered in the PEA.

The company has identified several such targets around AGB, which hosts 11.37 million metric tons of pit-constrained measured and indicated resources averaging 1.05 g/t (384,000 oz) gold and 43.9 g/t (16.1 million oz) silver.

During 2022, Benchmark drilled coincident soil geochemistry and geophysical anomalies that had not previously been tested due to a lack of outcrop exposure.

Benchmark Metals Inc.

The 2022 PEA for a mine at Lawyers envisions a centrally located mill facility processing ore from the AGB, Cliff Creek, and Dukes Ridge deposits.

"Multiple target high-grade resource areas have been identified near but outside the pit limits," said Benchmark Metals Vice President of Engineering Ian Harris.

This includes expansion targets immediately surrounding AGB and three soil anomalies about 3,000 meters to the north that lie along the same structural corridor as AGB and have geophysical signatures that are very similar to the deposit

Benchmark's 2022 drilling also tested expansion targets at Cliff Creek and Dukes Ridge, which have merged into a single horseshoe-shaped deposit, and host 54.43 million metric tons of pit-constrained measured and indicated resources averaging 1.26 g/t (2.2 million oz) gold and 19.2 g/t (33.6 million oz) silver.

In addition, the company tested early-stage, gold-silver targets across the 56-square-mile (144 square kilometers) Lawyers property.

Due to backlogged assay labs, results from the drilling at these targets remained pending at the time of this report.

Author Bio

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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