High grades result in high spirits at Croesus’ Binduli gold producer

Drilling at Croesus Mining’s Binduli mine, near Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, has returned high-grade, porphyry-hosted gold mineralization.

Recently, Eldorado (TSE) became the largest shareholder of Croesus by purchasing a 19.27% interest. Croesus owns the Binduli open-pit mine, which produced 32,275 oz. gold for the year ended June 30 at a cash cost of US$225 per oz. The company’s nearby processing plant was recently upgraded to a throughput of 660,000 tons per year. Output for fiscal 1996 is expected to exceed 41,000 oz.

The minable oxide reserve stands at 3 million tons grading 0.058 oz. gold per ton. An exploration program, budgeted at US$1.8 million, is aimed not only at expanding the oxide reserves but at assessing the underlying, primary sulphide mineralization. The results are expected to warrant the addition of an 880,000-ton-per-year, carbon-in-pulp treatment plant.

An initial scoping study on the construction of a new mill is under way.

Metallurgical tests indicate the sulphide mineralization is free-milling, with a gold recovery greater than 90%. The primary ore is amenable to heap leaching.

The total resource at Binduli (both oxide and sulphide reserves) is estimated at 10.2 million tons grading 0.053 oz.

Diamond and reverse-circulation drilling beneath the Centurion open-pit has returned high-grade intercepts, including: 93 ft. of 0.39 oz. at a depth of 212-305 ft. for hole CD-21; 84 ft. of 0.13 oz. at a depth of 262-346 ft. for CD-22; 49 ft. of 0.59 oz. at a depth of 161-210 ft. for RC-2056; and 98 ft. of 0.76 oz. at a depth of 158-256 ft. for RC-2101.

Croesus believes the high-grade ore is accessible from the Centurion pit.

Mineralization is associated with stacked quartz veins within an altered, feldspar porphyry, adjacent to a black shale. The porphyry-shale contact extends over 2.5 miles.

Stepout drilling is in progress.