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VANCOUVER,BRITISH COLUMBIA–(Marketwire – Nov. 28, 2011) – Pretium Resources Inc.(“Pretivm”) (TSX:PVG) is pleased to report an updated mineral resource estimate for its wholly-owned Brucejack Project located in northern British Columbia. High-grade and bulk-tonnage gold resources have increased significantly as a result of the update.
High-Grade (5.0 grams of gold-equivalent per tonne cut-off) Grade & Tonnage Estimate
-- 5.06 million ounces of gold in the Measured and Indicated resource
categories (9.3 million tonnes grading 16.92 grams of gold per tonne),
for a 460% percent increase; and
-- 3.33 million ounces of gold in the Inferred resource category (4.0
million tonnes grading 25.67 grams of gold per tonne).
Bulk-Tonnage (1.25 grams of gold-equivalent per tonne cut-off) Grade & Tonnage Estimate
-- 8.46 million ounces of gold in the Measured and Indicated resource
categories (74.1 million tonnes grading 3.55 grams of gold per tonne),
for a 164% percent increase; and
-- 6.76 million ounces of gold in the Inferred resource category (78.5
million tonnes grading 2.68 grams of gold per tonne).
Bulk-Tonnage Mineral Resource Estimate (0.30 grams of gold-equivalent per tonne cut-off)
-- 12.89 million ounces of gold in the Measured and Indicated resource
categories (305.3 million tonnes grading 1.31 grams of gold per tonne),
for a 57.5% percent increase; and
-- 18.20 million ounces of gold in the Inferred resource category (813.7
million tonnes grading 0.70 grams of gold per tonne).
Brucejack High-Grade Project
-- An update to the Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) (see news release
dated June 2, 2011) using the updated Brucejack high-grade gold and
silver resource is now underway and is planned to be completed in the
first quarter of 2012;
-- A Feasibility Study for the Brucejack high-grade development opportunity
will commence shortly;
-- Additionally, a PEA on an integrated high-grade underground and bulk
tonnage project is planned to commence later this quarter.
Mineral Resource Modeling and Estimation
The Brucejack Project comprises seven modeled deposits. The resource models are based on 1,190 diamond drill holes totalling 219,394 metres, which include 452 historical surface drill holes, 442 historical underground drill holes exclusively in the West Zone, and 296 surface drill holes completed since 2009. Mineralization in the SG, Gossan Hill, Galena Hill and Bridge Zones was modelled using Ordinary Kriging, a block size of 25 x 25 x10 metres, and used a top cut for gold between 10 g/t and 30 g/t. The mineral resource estimates for Shore Zone, West Zone and Valley of the Kings Zone used Median Indicator Kriging, and a block size of 25 x 25 x 10 metres. Median Indicator Kriging is a non-linear form of estimation used when the mineralization is shown to be hosted in distinct populations. In this case, the low grade population was defined as all composite samples with Au values below 4.0 g/t gold, and the high grade population was defined as all composite samples with Au values above 4.0 g/t gold. Median Indicator Kriging restricts the contribution of the various sample populations in any given block. As a further restriction, composites in the Valley of the Kings Zone were capped at 900 g/t gold and in the West Zone and Shore Zone were capped at 220 g/t gold prior to grade estimation.
