Detour jumps after upping reserves and raising $1.45 billion to build Canada’s largest gold mine

Detour Gold Corporation (TSX:DGC) added $1.80 to $28.40 or 6.7% on Wednesday after announcing bought deal financing led by BMO Capital Markets and CIBC worth $241 million and improved reserves estimates for its $1.45 billion project on the Ontario-Quebec border.

Detour said depending on the level of interest the size of the offering can be upped by another $36 million and that the latest cash infusion means it now has enough money to finance the  Detour Lake gold project through to production.

Detour has already spent $626 million on the project located in northeastern Ontario. The company’s property includes the site of the former Detour Lake mine, an open pit and underground mining operation.

In an earlier release on Wednesday the company  raised reserve estimates for Detour Lake  to 15.6 million gold oz after last year’s 86,000 metres drilling exploration. The measured and indicated resources at the mine were upped by 13%  to 23.3 million ounces which helped to extend the mine life by one year to 22 years.  The company also amended it projected strip ratio by 8% from 3.9 to 3.6.

Detour Lake, approved by the government late last year, will be Canada’s largest gold mine and the company said  it is planning to have ore ready to be processed by the fourth quarter of 2012. The mine is expected to employ about 1,200 workers during construction and a permanent 400-man camp has already been constructed on the mine site.

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Press  release:

Detour Gold Corporation (TSX:DGC) (“Detour Gold” or the “Company”) is pleased to report its 2011 year-end mineral reserve and resource update for its 100% owned Detour Lake gold project in northeastern Ontario. The update includes 78% of the 2011 drilling program of 86,644 metres, which was aimed at converting inferred resources into reserves within the previous open pit (refer to press release dated January 31, 2011).

Highlights (base case using US$850/oz gold)

  • 5% increase in proven and probable open pit reserves from 14.9 to 15.6 million ounces
  • A 13% increase in global measured and indicated mineral resources from 20.5 to 23.3 million ounces (inclusive of mineral reserves), and an additional 5.8 million ounces in the inferred category
  • Life of mine (LOM) increased to 22 years from 21 years at mill throughput ranging from 55,000 to 61,000 tpd
  • Reduction of 8% in the strip ratio from 3.9 to 3.6

Gerald Panneton, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented, “The mineral reserves presented today are still based on a cut-off grade of 0.5 g/t and a US$850/oz gold price. We are currently working on the details of an updated life of mine production plan based on the same engineered pit and the new reserve estimate.”

“The mineral reserve increase of 5% is the result of our successful 2011 infill drilling program, which targeted the western portion of the existing pit on a 40 by 40 metres drill spacing resulting in the conversion of inferred resources into reserves. With 15.6 million ounces in reserves, the Detour Lake deposit is projected to be Canada’s largest gold mining operation.”

“The throughput rationalization study conducted in 2011 indicated that based on a US$1,200/oz gold price the best scenario of an expansion would be an increase in throughput from 55,000 to 75,000 tonnes per day (tpd) (processed). We are proceeding with a pre-feasibility study and related studies on the Block A near-surface resource (see press release of January 17, 2012) to establish the possibility of further increasing the gold production profile of the Company.”

Detour Lake Mineral Resources

The database for this update incorporated 67,587 metres (or 78%) of the Detour Gold 2011 drilling campaign, available drilling data from section 16,500E to 17,000E from previous operators, and all previous drilling data included in the 2010 year-end update for a total of 1,134,287 metres of drilling in 6,475 holes, of which 523,270 metres is from Detour Gold’s drilling campaigns.

The Ordinary Kriging (OK) block model used for the global mineral resources covers the area between sections 16,500E and 20,600E, extending an additional 500 metres to the west from the 2010 year-end block model. The table below summarizes the global mineral resources at various cut-off grades using the same parameters as last year.

Detour Lake Global Mineral Resource Estimate(1)
Resource
Category
Cut-off
Grade
(g/t)
Tonnes
(millions)
Grade
Capped
(2)
(g/t Au)
Gold
Ounces
(000’s)
Measured (M) 0.3 152.7 1.18 5,784
0.4 137.9 1.27 5,618
0.5 124.5 1.36 5,424
Indicated (I) 0.3 876.2 0.78 21,879
0.4 693.8 0.89 19,842
0.5 554.3 1.00 17,836
Total (M&I) 0.3 1,028.9 0.84 27,662
0.4 831.7 0.95 25.461
0.5 678.8 1.07 23,261
Inferred 0.3 414.9 0.63 8,359
0.4 293.9 0.74 7.011
0.5 208.5 0.86 5,785
(1) Mineral reserves are included within the mineral resources reported.
(2) Capping grade estimated by domains and varies from 15 g/t to 50 g/t.

The table below shows the in-pit mineral resources at various cut-off grades using the same optimized pit shell (derived from the Lerchs-Grossman (LG) pit optimizer algorithm) as in the 2010 year-end resource update.

Detour Lake In-pit Mineral Resource Estimate(1)
Resource
Category
Cut-off
Grade
(g/t)
Tonnes
(millions)
Grade
Capped
(2)
(g/t Au)
Gold
Ounces
(000’s)
Measured (M) 0.3 135.3 1.19 5,159
0.4 123.3 1.27 5,024
0.5 111.9 1.35 4,859
Indicated (I) 0.3 609.2 0.77 14,996
0.4 482.4 0.88 13,580
0.5 383.5 0.99 12,157
Total (M&I) 0.3 744.5 0.84 20,155
0.4 605.7 0.96 18,604
0.5 495.4 1.07 17,016
Inferred 0.3 21.9 0.46 326
0.4 10.9 0.58 204
0.5 6.0 0.70 135
(1) Mineral reserves are included within the mineral resources reported.
(2) Capping grade estimated by domains and varies from 15 g/t to 50 g/t.

Detour Lake Mineral Reserves

The open pit mineral reserves were estimated within the same detailed engineered pit design used in the 2010 year-end update by using the measured and indicated resources at a cut-off grade of 0.5 g/t. Optimization parameters used for the mineral reserve estimate were identical to the 2010 year-end update (refer to Technical Report filed on March 15, 2011). In the pit design, inter-ramp pit slopes vary from 49 to 56 degrees depending on rock type and structure orientation. The mineral reserves were estimated in MineSight with the kriged block grades that include an estimated dilution of 11.7%. The estimated proven and probable reserves total 15.6 million ounces, after using a 95% mining recovery rate and an additional mining dilution of 3.8%. The stripping ratio (waste to ore) decreased by 8% from 3.9 to 3.6 as a result of converting waste and inferred resources into reserves. To date, the Company has had a high success rate in converting inferred resources to the measured and indicated categories.

Detour Lake Mineral Reserves at US$850/oz (cut-off grade of 0.5 g/t)
Reserve
Category
Tonnes
(millions)
Grade
(g/t Au)
Gold Ounces
(000’s)
Proven 101,635 1.29 4,222
Probable 368,407 0.96 11,351
Total (P&P) 470,042 1.03 15,573

A summary table of the changes from the previous reserve estimate is shown below.

Year-end
2010
Year-end
2011
% Change
Total P&P gold reserves (M oz) 14.9 15.6 +4.8 %
Tonnage (Mt) 451.4 470.0 +4.5 %
Grade (g/t) 1.03 1.03
Strip ratio 3.9 3.6 -8.3 %
Mine life 21 22 +5 %
Estimated gold recovery (%) 91.2 91.2
Gold price (US$/oz) 850 850
Exchange rate 1.10 1.10

General Update

The Company plans to release its forecast life of mine annual mine production plan, along with projected operating costs for the life of mine in the third quarter of 2012.

The Company is also planning to have ore ready to be processed by the fourth quarter of 2012. In its revised price control estimate released in November 2011, Detour Gold included an additional $48 million for pre-strip activities to remove 21 million tonnes of overburden instead of 16 million tonnes, and 10 million tonnes of waste to access ore in 2012. This pre-development investment will allow for the stockpile of 3 million tonnes of ore ready to be processed by the fourth quarter of 2012. The pre-stripping program started in November 2010 with Detour Gold’s mining fleet and operational crew.

As announced on December 22, 2011, the Company has received formal approval of its Comprehensive Study Report from the Federal Minister of Environment.

The Company plans to continue assessing the potential of increasing the annual production profile once the mine operation has completed its ramp up (6-12 months) reaching +50,000 tpd before year-end 2013. As part of Detour Gold’s organic growth strategy, the first priority is to evaluate the economic potential of the Block A near-surface resource as potential additional feed for the Detour Lake processing plant. The Company has started a 50,000 metres drilling program and has initiated a pre-feasibility study.

The next priority is to evaluate several high-grade targets on the Detour Lake property. Part of the Block A drilling program will test the upper part of the QK Zone, which was drilled by Placer Dome in the mid-90’s, and a further 20,000 metres of drilling is planned along the Lower Detour Deformation Zone, a similar structure to the Sunday Lake Deformation Zone located 5 kilometres to the south. The Company’s strategy is to focus on high-grade mineralization to be found within a 50 kilometre radius of its processing plant facilities.

Qualified Persons

The mineral resources for Detour Lake have been estimated by Michel Dagbert, Eng., Senior Geostatistician of SGS Canada Inc. The mineral reserves for Detour Lake have been estimated by Patrice Live, Eng., Mining Manager of BBA Inc. All are independent Qualified Person (QP) under National Instrument 43-101 and have reviewed and approved the content of this news release.

Conference Call

Detour Gold will hold a conference call on Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 11:00 AM EST to discuss the mineral resource and reserve update and respond to questions from analysts and investors. To join the call:

  • In Canada and the United States dial toll free 1-866-226-1798
  • International 416-340-2218
  • To listen to the audio webcast live online, go to: www.detourgold.com (home page) and click on “Conference Call Audio Webcast January 25, 2012” under “Events” or go directly to www.gowebcasting.com/3042.

The conference call will be recorded and playback of the call will be available after the event by dialing toll free in Canada and the United States 1-800-408-3053, or internationally 905-694-9451, pass code 6848711 (available up to February 8, 2012). To listen to the recorded webcast online, please go to www.detourgold.com, in the “Investor Info” section under “Past Events”.

Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains certain forward-looking information as defined in applicable securities laws (referred to herein as “forward-looking statements”). Specifically, this news release contains forward-looking statements regarding the development of the Detour Lake project, the results of the throughput rationalization study, the completion of a pre-feasibility study and related studies on Block A, the reserve and resource estimates for the Detour Lake project and the assumptions and parameters related thereto, the expected mine life, anticipated gold production, ore processing, the release of Detour Gold’s forecast life of mine annual mine production plan, along with projected operating costs for the life of mine, and plans to assess the potential of increasing the Company’s annual production profile. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which are beyond Detour Gold’s ability to predict or control and may cause Detour Gold’s actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any of its future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and other factors include, but are not limited to, gold price volatility, changes in debt and equity markets, the uncertainties involved in interpreting geological data, increases in costs, environmental compliance and changes in environmental legislation and regulation, interest rate and exchange rate fluctuations, general economic conditions and other risks involved in the gold exploration and development industry, as well as those risk factors discussed in the section entitled “Description of Business – Risk Factors” in Detour Gold’s July 27, 2011 short form prospectus and in the continuous disclosure documents filed by Detour Gold on and available at www.sedar.com. Such forward-looking statements are also based on a number of assumptions which may prove to be incorrect, including, but not limited to, assumptions about the following: the availability of financing for exploration and development activities; the estimated timeline for the development of the Detour Lake gold project; the supply and demand for, and the level and volatility of the price of, gold; the results of the feasibility study and the assumptions on which the feasibility study is based; the accuracy of reserve and resource estimates and the assumptions on which the reserve and resource estimates are based; the receipt of necessary permits; market competition; ongoing relations with employees and impacted communities; and general business and economic conditions. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
Detour Gold undertakes no obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking statements contained herein whether as a result of new information or future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law. Certain information contained in this news release may be deemed “forward looking”. All statements in this news release, other than statements of historical fact, that address events or developments that Detour Gold or Trade Winds expect to occur, are “forward-looking statements”. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which are beyond Detour Gold’s or Trade Winds’ ability to predict or control and may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by forward-looking statements.

 

Contact Information

  • Detour Gold Corporation
    Gerald Panneton
    President and CEO
    (416) 304.0800Detour Gold Corporation
    Laurie Gaborit
    Director Investor Relations
    (416) 304.0581
    www.detourgold.com