Viceroy to proceed with production at Castle Mountain

The Castle Mountain project has total open pit mineable reserves of 25,940,000 tons of 0.055 oz gold per ton. A mine life of at least nine years is estimated from the Jumbo South, Lesley Ann and Oro Belle deposits, however drilling during late 1987 and early 1988 resulted in the discovery of three more mineralized zones estimated to contain preliminary geological reserves of 13,471,500 tons of 0.046 oz gold.

While metallurgical tests show the ore is clean, with little or no cyanide consuming minerals or acid generating sulphides, Viceroy isn’t expecting gold recoveries to exceed 65%-70% as the ore is dense with a portion of the gold encapsulated in silicious material. A crush size of -3/8 inch and a 120-day leach cycle was recommended for commercial production.

Although Viceroy retains exclusive ownership of the 10-sq-mi core area which includes the Castle Mountain mine site, Hemlo Gold can earn a 50% interest in 54 square miles of geologically prospective land not yet explored by Viceroy by spending $5.0 million over five years.

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