www.sumatracoppergold.com
Sumatra Copper & Gold plc (ASX:SUM) was established in 2006 to explore for, and develop, gold-silver and copper-gold mineral deposits on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The Company has an economic interest of 92.5% in its projects. Sumatra’s assets include a mineral resource of some 2.15 million ounces of gold and 24 million ounces of silver reported to JORC Code standards, with further exploration targets identified.
Sumatra Copper & Gold targets 70,000 to 80,000 ounces gold production in Indonesia
Sumatra Copper & Gold plc (ASX: SUM) is targeting annual production of 70,000 to 80,000 ounces gold equivalent at the Tembang Project by early 2013 following a successful resource augmentation drilling program.
The gold and silver Tembang Project in central Sumatra, Indonesia, will have a projected mine life of at least 10 years and anticipated cash costs in the range of US$500 per ounce.
Given Tembang is a brownfields site, brings a de-risking element to the project and development parameters.
Planned deeper drilling of the Berenai and Belinau areas at Tembang should improve the overall grade of the deposit when an updated resource is announced in mid March.
The company plans to complete pre-feasibility studies by mid-2011 so that a definitive feasibility study can then be commissioned.
Final mine planning will be undertaken once the infill drilling and definitive resource modelling is completed in mid 2011.
The current schedule is for the definitive feasibility study to be completed by the end of 2011 and construction to begin, subject to permitting and financing, in the second quarter of 2012.
A total of 13,486 metres of largely diamond core resource drilling was completed at the end of the program on 15 February 2011.
Jocelyn Waller, managing director, said “a largely very successful drilling program at Tembang and current buoyant gold and silver prices look to have given this project the additional quality ounces to encourage us to expedite this project’s development."
"It has the makings of a very profitable mid-sized mine and would be the making of the company. We will continue to explore our extensive land holdings in Sumatra but developing Tembang will now be our primary focus.”
The company has already begun in-fill drilling to further delineate and define the resource and to upgrade the JORC resource categories for the definitive resource statement.
Utilising provisional numbers, the company said "pit optimisations at US$1,000 and US$1,250 per ounce gold at various throughputs +/-1,000,000 tonnes per annum have been carried out and show a potentially robust project with more than a 10 year life."
Prior operating results at Tembang suggest that recoveries of approximately 90% can be expected from conventional gravity/CIL processing.
