AMERICAS — New Chilean mine for Coeur d’Alene

Historically, Coeur d’Alene Mines (NYSE) has been associated with Idaho and the prolific silver mines of its namesake district in that state.

But these days — with operating mines in Nevada and New Zealand, and development- and exploration-stage projects in North America, Chile and New Zealand — the company’s scope might best be described as global. Recently, the Idaho-based company announced plans for building a gold mine in southern Chile. Construction of the Fachinal gold-silver operation is expected to take about 18 months. In the first full year of production, the operation will turn out about 41,000 oz. gold and 2.6 million oz. silver. “Fachinal is an important step for us because it will be our first mine constructed in Chile, and represents the successful completion of several years of planning,” said President Dennis Wheeler. “This also sets (the) foundation for possible future expansion in Chile, which continues to grow as a mineral-producing country.”

The capital cost is expected to be US$41.8 million and the mine, when complete, will be one of the southernmost operations in the world. Situated 800 miles south of Santiago at an elevation of 1,200 ft., the mine will employ 225 people.

Proven and probable reserves are estimated at 4.5 million tons containing 0.07 oz. gold and 3.21 oz. silver per ton, sufficient for about 7.5 years of production.

Fachinal will have both underground and open-pit mining, and an estimated throughput of 1,650 tons per day. The mill will use a conventional crush-grind-flotation method to produce a gold-silver concentrate which will be shipped to an offsite smelter for processing.

The project, bought by the company in 1990 for a bargain price of US$5 million, still has plenty of exploration potential. The land package covers about 90 sq. miles around the proposed mine site, and at least five zones of mineralization have already been identified.

Coeur d’Alene said exploration will be aimed at identifying additional reserves.