Column: China’s commodity import trend driven by prices, not economy
China's imports of major commodities are often viewed through the prism of the performance of, and outlook for, the world's second-biggest economy.
The project is situated 15 km south of Princeton, British Columbia, Canada and 180 km east of Vancouver.
The property consists of 127 Crown granted mineral claims, 155 located mineral claims and 15 mining leases covering an area of 6,702.1 hectares or 67 sq km.
The proven and probable mineral reserve totals 194.6 million tons averaging 0.33% Cu containing 1.3 billion lb copper.
A positive feasibility study (Jul/08) describes the scope, design features and economic viability of bringing back into production a conventional open pit mine with a 35,000 t per day mill. The mine, a former producer, is designed to produce approximately 100 million pounds of copper per year in a copper concentrate with gold and silver credits.
The open pit mine design is based on processing 35,000 t per day of mill feed and producing a copper concentrate containing gold and silver. The initial five year average grade of mill feed is 0.39% Cu (0.43% Cu Equivalent) resulting in an average annual production of 96 million pounds copper for the same period. The lower grade material (below 0.25% Cu) will be stockpiled for processing towards the end of the mine life.
The average waste to ore ratio for the life of mine is 1.8:1. Metallurgical testing indicates a recovery of 89.2 percent for copper, 65 percent for gold, and 49 percent for silver.
The capital cost is estimated at $402 million (excluding a $35.4 million contingency allocation) with production scheduled to commence at the end of 2010.
The project would create 274 permanent jobs over an initial 15 year mine life.
