Deep sea mining puts $560 billion in land extraction at risk — report
Even in optimal scenarios, the activity would generate only $6.25 million in tax revenue for countries involved, says Planet Tracker.
Drilling at Integra Resources’ Florida Mountain deposit, within the DeLamar project in Idaho, has intersected higher-grade gold and silver mineralization, within and outside of the existing resource boundaries.
The company has released the first four holes from a 7,000-metre drill campaign. Highlights include 114.9 metres of 1.27 g/t gold equivalent starting at surface (0.59 g/t gold and 52.68 g/t silver), 117 metres of 2.3 g/t gold equivalent from 4.3 metres (1.99 g/t gold and 24.17 g/t silver) as well as 113.7 metres of 1.85 g/t gold equivalent starting at 4.9 metres (1.63 g/t gold and 17.13 g/t silver).
“We are excited to report that the exploration team has successfully intersected high-grade gold and silver in each of the first four drill holes completed at Florida Mountain,” George Salamis, the company’s president and CEO, said in a release.
Drilling at Florida Mountain over the coming weeks will target depth extensions of the known mineralized shoots
“Several of the high-grade intercepts were obtained beneath the current NI 43-101 resource model, and while today’s results highlight only the first four drill holes in the exploration program at Florida Mountain, they further underscore the potential for high grade gold-silver resources to exist outside of the resource, that could potentially be modeled as high-grade mill feed in future economic studies.”
A September 2019 preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for DeLamar outlined a 27,000 t/d heap leach operation with a 2,000 t/d mill for the unoxidized Florida Mountain material, producing an average of 124,000 oz. of gold-equivalent a year over a 10-year mine life at all-in sustaining costs of $619 per oz. According to Integra, the most recent exploration results suggest a higher potential mill feed grade than the 1 g/t gold-equivalent suggested in the early-stage study.
Drilling at Florida Mountain over the coming weeks will target depth extensions of the known mineralized shoots. Two rigs are currently working on this deposit with a third drill expected to target the high-grade War Eagle target by early August.
Integra’s DeLamar project features total measured and indicated resources of 172.4 million tonnes grading 0.7 g/t gold-equivalent for a total of 3.9 million gold-equivalent ounces; additional inferred include 28.3 million tonnes at 0.55 g/t gold-equivalent, totalling 500,000 oz. These are derived using cut-off grades between 0.2 g/t and 0.3 g/t gold-equivalent. Current resources are contained within the DeLamar and Florida Mountain deposits.
DeLamar is 160 km from Boise and includes the historic DeLamar mine, which produced 1.6 million oz. of gold and 100 million oz. of silver.
Midday Wednesday, Integra’s stock was up 4% on the TSXV. The company has a C$262 million market capitalization.
(This article first appeared in the Canadian Mining Journal)
