World class gold deposits

November 30, 2012

NRH Research has posted a report on the most significant world gold deposits.

NRH Research scanned 1,896 companies and was able to identify 212 entities (Public, Private and Government Sponsored Corporations) that own 439 gold deposits hosting over 1,000,000 ounces in all categories representing a total of 3 billion ounces of gold.

The top undeveloped deposits in the world that are north of 56 include:

• Alaska’s Pebble Deposit 10,177 M tonnes grading 0.33 oz/tonne containing 107,300,000 oz. of gold. The proponents are Northern Dynasty / Anglo American. This is the largest undeveloped deposit on Earth.
• Alaska’s Donlin Creek 634 M tonnes grading 2.21 oz/tonne containing 45,000,000 oz. of gold. The proponents are Barrick / NovaGold. 4th largest undeveloped deposit in the world.
• B.C.‘s Snowfield deposit 2,203 M tonnes grading 0.49 oz/tonne containing 34,950,000 oz. gold. the proponent is Pretium Resources. 6th largest in the world.
• Alaska’s Livengood deposit 1,190 M tonnes grading 0.54oz./tonne containing 20,631,000 oz. gold. The proponent is Int’l Tower Hill Mines. 14th in the world
• B.C.‘s BruceJack 30 M tonnes grading 17.45 oz./tonne containing 17,056,000 oz. gold. The proponent is Pretium Resources. 19th in the world.
• NWT’s Courageous Lake deposit 156 M tonnes grading 2.27oz./tonne containing 11,403,000 oz. gold. Proponent Seabridge Gold. 23rd in the world.
• BC’s Galore Creek 1,160 M tonnes grading 0.29 oz/tonne containing 10,700,000 oz. gold. Proponents Novagold/Teck. 26th in the world.
• Yukon’s Casino Copper 1,058 M tonnes grading 0.24 oz/tonne containing 8,300,000 oz.gold. Proponent is Western Copper. 38th in the world.
• Nunavut’s Meliadine deposit 38 M tonnes grading 5.76 oz.per tonne containing 6,977,000 oz. gold. Developer Agnico Eagle. 46th in the world. This mine is under construction.

NRH notes that “...there are only 439 assets that meet the industry perceived economic threshold of 1 million ounces. Last year, we compared this figure to the tens of thousands of commercial real estate properties in the world or the nearly 72,000 financial securities. While the crustal abundance of gold is fixed, and discovery grades continue to decline.”

Commentary

Nine of the top 50 undeveloped gold deposits in the world are located north of 56.

Sources

• a)NRH Research and graphics by Visual Capitalist see http://www.nrh.co.il/i/pdf/NRH_Research_2012%20World_Gold_Deposits.pdf