Pretium Resources Inc. (ticker PVG on TSX and NYSE) filed “Brucejack Project Mineral Resources Update Technical Report” dated November 20, 2012 that gives and updated resource estimate for Brucejack’s Valley of the Kings project.
The Brucejack property is located northwest of Stewart BC. It can be reached by an access road off highway 37. BC Hydro is in the midst of a $500 M dollar project to extend power from Terrace, BC north to Bob Quinn, paralleling Hwy 37.
A huge amount of exploration drilling has taken place around the Brucejack project—some 490 drill holes with 174,000 m of core taken. The indicated and inferred resource is estimated at more than 10 m oz. gold. A total of 100,000 meters of drilling is planned for the 2012 Brucejack Exploration Program. The underground exploration program has commenced this year. The first phase of the underground program will be to slash out the existing West Zone underground workings to five-by-five meters down to the 1330 meter level, a distance of approximately 500 meters. The next phase will be to advance the decline from the 1314 meter level of the West Zone to the 1270 meter level in the Valley of the Kings, a distance of approximately 450 meters. Pretium expects to take an underground bulk sample in the Valley of the Kings in the first half of 2013. A feasibility study on the Brucejack high-grade opportunity is advancing and is anticipated Q1 2013.
The company’s preliminary economic assessment foresees a $500 M mine with a 24 year life, producing 2,700 tonnes/day of ore. The mine would produce an estimated 6.9 million ounces of gold and 17.0 million ounces of silver. The mine would be an underground mine using stopes. The company plans on a feasibility study in 2013, followed by environmental approval process application, detailed engineering. Consultation with First Nations has been ongoing.
Pretium has a market cap of $1.2 B. It trades at $13.29 per share.
The Brucejack ore body large and the deposits are rich (16.4 g/t). The completion of the BC Hydro line along Hwy 37 will help facilitate the infrastructure. Seeing construction underway by 2014 seems very possible.
There are no operating mines ‘north of 56 degree latitude’ in northern BC. The Brucejack project is one of the most promising new mines on the horizon.