Column: In search of the elusive green nickel premium
Just about every Western producer will tell you metal produced to higher environmental and social standards should command a premium.
A Perth gold developer has commenced preliminary discussions with potential financing partners for a new gold mine in central Brazil where an initial resource of 178,800 ounces of gold has been defined.
Speaking today on the sidelines of the final day of the Paydirt 2016 Latin America Downunder conference in Perth, Crusader Resources Limited’s Executive Director, Mr Paul Stephens, said the focus would be on a debt facility to construct and commission the company’s wholly-owned proposed Juruena gold mine.
“The scope of any final firm financing agreement is likely to be linked to the completion of the current scoping study into Juruena and a new resource statement expected by mid year,” Mr Stephens said.
“The weakening Brazilian currency is also having a current positive effect on the economics of gold production in this Latin American jurisdiction.
“It is prudent in this environment to fast-track Juruena to take advantage of this favourable commodity environment.”
Juruena has a maiden JORC resource estimate over two separate prospects of 459,800 tonnes at 12.1 grams per tonne gold (g/t Au) for a contained resource of 178,800 ounces of gold and offering substantial high grade potential.
The project is located in central Brazil’s rich Alta Floresta gold belt which from 1979 over the next 18 years produced more than seven million ounces of gold from 40 documented discoveries.
Crusader controls 100% of two key areas along the Belt and which have been responsible for producing more than 500,000 ounces of gold to date.
Mr Stephens said only two of an initial 16 targets at Juruena have been tested to date.
“The Juruena gold soil anomaly for a start is a giant, stretching more than eight kilometres in length and four kilometres in width – a size and style similar to the Boddington gold project in Western Australia,” he said.
Crusader is mounting a 2016 drill campaign of around 6,000 metres with the aim of converting current Inferred resources at the Querosene and Dona Maria prospects into the Indicated category.
