With the first results from a diamond core drilling program including; 8.00m at 11.44g/t gold from 86m and 3.60m at 17.51g/t gold from 201m, at the Jokisivu Gold Mine in southern Finland, Dragon Mining (ASX: DRA) has identified more ore that can be processed into gold ounces at its nearby Vammala Production Centre.
The completed 22 hole, 4,045 metre program was designed to test the up-dip extension of the footwall zone of the Kujankallio deposit, and to infill a portion of the existing Kujankallio resource in preparation for a mineral resource update, which the company said would be subsequently reflected in the underground mine design.
Drilling at Kujankallio has identified the deposit to extend to at least 525 metres in depth, though resource drilling currently extends only down to 440 metres, whilst the Arpola deposit has only been drilled down to 200 metres, with both deposits remaining open with depth and partially along strike.
Open cut mining of the Kujankallio deposit was completed in August 2010, yielding 10,176 ounces at an approximate cash cost of US$620 per ounce.
Development of the decline that will provide underground access to the Kujankallio deposit has commenced, with exploration and further internal studies continuing to determine the viability of a development that would also encompass the Arpola deposit.
Jokisivu became Dragon's third operating mine in 2009, with the commencement of mining from the Kujankallio open pit in September 2009.
Since commencement, 103,445 tonnes of ore have been mined have and transported from Jokisivu to Vammala Production Centre.
The Vammala Plant is a 600,000 tonne per annum crushing, milling and flotation facility which was successfully recommissioned in June 2007 and is being operated on a 24 hour basis.
The Jokisivu Gold Mine is located 40 kilometres southwest of the Vammala Production Centre, and hosts a measured, indicated and inferred resource of 356,300 gold ounces, from two deposits 200 metres apart.
The environmental permit for the Vammala Production Centre is valid until 2016.