Northern Star predicts increased grades at Voyager 1
THE DRILL SERGEANT: Northern Star Resources has received the latest round of results from infill and resource drilling being conducted on the 25 grams per tonne gold Extension zone of the Voyager 1 lode at the company’s Paulsens gold mine in Western Australia.
The company said the results provide further evidence it is on track to deliver the sharp increases in production and cash generation it has forecast for 2013.
Northern Star now anticipates grades at Paulsens will be increased next year from the current head-grade of around seven grams per tonne, which will in turn help drive a rise in production to as much as 115,000 ounces of gold, a lowering of costs resulting in surplus cash generation of $65 to $85 million next calendar year.
Long Section view of significant drill results for Voyager One including the Extension zone. Source: Company announcement
“These latest drilling results reinforce our strategy to deliver sharply higher production and cashflow next year,” Northern Star Resources managing director Bill Beament said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.
“At the same time, we have a multi-pronged exploration program underway in and around Paulsens and at our neighbouring Ashburton project.
“We are confident that these programs will be generating substantial growth in our inventory and further increases in mine life, production and cashflow.”
The Voyager 1 lode is currently the main ore source at Paulsens and has produced 170,000 ounces over the past two years.
The lode continues to be open down plunge and the company believes this lode will continue to grow and be the mainstay for production for a number of years.
The high-grade extension zone at Voyager 1 formed the major part of Northern Star’s recently released resource upgrade on the Paulsens project to 403,000 ounces of gold.
The latest drilling results from Voyager 1 were not included in the resource upgrade.
Northern Star has intersected the extension zone ahead of its initial timeframe of the December Quarter 2012, which the company outlined will result in the higher-grade ore boosting the project’s production profile sooner.
The first development level in the extension has been underway for the past month with face grades averaging 12g/t so far.
The first extension zone level is one of the highest grade levels ever developed in the seven-year history of the Paulsens mine.
The company expects future head-grade will also be boosted by the fact that historical mine performance indicates stoping/production grades are normally higher than development grades.
