Gold Standard Ventures has reported results from a prefeasibility study (PFS) of development of surface-mined, heap leach operations on the Dark Star and Pinion gold deposits on its Railroad-Pinion property 24 kilometers (km) south of Carlin, Nevada. The deposits are projected to produce an average of 156,000 ounces per year (oz/y) of gold over an initial 8-year mine life. Gold Standard has given the project the name, “South Railroad Project.”
The project PFS estimates all-in sustaining costs of production at $657/oz of gold produced. Initial capital expenditures are estimated at $194 million.
The PFS is based on proven and probable mineral reserves of 1.248 million oz of gold and 2.7 million oz of silver. Near-surface mining of 47.3 million metric tons (mt) of oxide and transitional ore is planned at a processing rate of 5.9 million mt/y.
Ore will be processed either run-of-mine or through a high-pressure grinding roll crusher; stacked on a heap leach pad; and leached using a sodium cyanide solution. Pregnant solution will be processed through a dual-train carbon-in-column plant, with gold and silver captured in an ADR (adsorption, desorption, regeneration) plant.
Completion of the South Railroad project PFS allows Gold Standard to finalize permit applications to the Bureau of Land Management for an environmental impact statement. The PFS addresses both the project’s environmental impacts and the costs of mitigations.
Additional geotechnical studies will be completed to further define the scope and cost of major civil works and foundations.
