Quote:
22 April 2013
Auckland-based New Talisman Gold Mines Ltd (NZX & ASX: NTL) has wasted little time in promoting the development of its first project outside of New Zealand.
On Friday the company provided a technical and corporate overview on the Mkopoto gold project in Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo in central Africa.
Earlier last week it provided details of a positive pre-feasibility study for its long-held Talisman gold project near Karangahake on the North Island.
New Talisman said the Mkopoto project had an indicated-inferred resource of 7.171 million tonnes grading 1.65 grams/tonne for 383,000 oz.
The company said a pre-feasibility study was anticipated by June to target gold production in 2014.
Back in February New Talisman announced signing an option agreement with Netcom Global Inc to acquire up to 62.5% interest in the company which has the right to acquire an 80% interest in Kisenge Ltd Mpokoto gold project presently owned by Casa Mining Ltd.
Mpokoto is in the western part of the Katanga Province about 250 kilometres west of Kolwezi where a gold anomaly was discovered in 2005 by Kisenge.
The area has a history of exploration starting from the 1920s. Manganese mining started in 1950. Since 1998 some $US20 M has been spent on exploration primarily for gold.
New Talisman said the railway from the Atlantic port of Lobita in Angola to the Congolese border at Luau/Dilolo has recently been reconstructed by a Chinese consortium and reconstruction of the line between the Angolan border and Kolwezi is planned for the next two years
Work was underway to assess the possibility of converting about 150,000 oz from resources to reserves suitable for agglomerated heap leaching. This study should be completed by June.
New Talisman said that in addition to the defined resources, technical group Tetra-Tech estimates Mpokoto has potential for an exploration target of between 20 to 24 Mt grading between 1.5-1.8 g/t Au.
The Mpokoto project was established by Kisenge Ltd owned by Cluff Mining Ltd in 1998, Goldfields of South Africa acquired Kisenge from Cluff Mining in 2003 and sold to Casa in 2007.
The project is presently owned 80% by Kisenge Ltd, the balance of the project is owned by L’entreprise Miniere de Kisenge Manganese – a Congolese Government owned company).
NetCom acquired an indirect interest through Casa Mining Ltd, a private company with a diverse shareholder base.
Netcom and Casa will prepare, during the first quarter of 2013, documentation for conversion of the area containing the gold project to a mining and exploitation licence. It is anticipated a mining exploitation licence will be approved by the end of 2013.
Initially the project could mine and treat 750,000 tpa at a head grade of about 1.6 g/t.
Tetra-Tech estimates the capital cost for a 500,000 tpa operation will be about $US12-14 M. A feasibility study is planned for completion by the end of the third quarter. Construction could begin at the end of the wet season in May 2014.
Based on the studies carried out to date, operating costs per ounce for the project should be in the range of $US700-900/oz.
NTL could end up with 50% of the mine, so will need to front up with only 50% of the startup capital. 20% of the project is owned through the Congolese government, which should help.