Value,
sogar sehr gelungewn.
Sozusagen Erfolgsstory!
Noch ein Artikel zu New Gold vom 25.3.
Lassonde und Telfer können nicht anders......
Aber ruhig wird´s hier nicht zugehen....
War bei Wheaton River auch kein ruhiges Flüsschen...
New Gold, Abacus Combine Efforts in Afton-Ajax District
By Jon A. Nones
25 Mar 2008 at 04:22 PM
St. LOUIS (ResourceInvestor.com) -- In a proactive approach to a potentially serious problem with overlapping properties, New Gold, Inc. [AMEX:NGD; TSX:NGD] and Abacus Mining and Exploration Corp. [TSX-V:AME] have agreed to cooperate in the Afton-Ajax Cu-Au district in British Columbia. With New Gold’s New Afton mine scheduled to come on-stream as early as 2009 and Abacus’ Ajax pits in 2010, the companies hope to catch more flies with honey.
On Tuesday, the companies signed two Definitive Agreements, one between New Gold, Abacus and Teck Cominco and the other between New Gold and Abacus, addressing the co-operative development of their respective assets in the Afton-Ajax district. The agreements follow two Letters of Intent signed in Oct. 2007: the first to ensure that both New Gold and Abacus are able to freely develop their own assets in the area of New Gold’s New Afton Project; the second to ensure that any economic mineralization within and surrounding the past producing Ajax pits, is explored, delineated and developed in the most effective manner.
“New Gold and Abacus own important assets in close proximity within the area of the New Afton mine site,” said Chris Bradbrook, President and CEO of New Gold. “In the long term this will be beneficial to the shareholders of both companies, the community of Kamloops and the long term development of mineralization in the district.”
Through a transaction with Teck Cominco in 2007, New Gold acquired the surface rights to the land required to develop its New Afton Project, and the water pipeline that previously supplied the Afton open pit mine from Teck Cominco. Abacus, however, purchased the old Afton mill building, the surface rights surrounding that building and the tailings facility from the old Afton open pit mine from Teck in 2005. Some of the land purchased by New Gold from Teck Cominco lies between the old mill and tailings facility.
According to the three-way agreement, Abacus will maintain the rights of access previously granted by Teck Cominco, as well as shared use of New Gold’s water pipeline, in the event that it develops a new milling operation. The deal provides New Gold with access from the Trans-Canada Highway to its New Afton operations over a small portion of the land that Abacus purchased from Teck Cominco around the old Afton mill building.
Under the second agreement, Abacus has an option to explore and develop mineralization in the area around Abacus’ Ajax Mineral Claims, which are over a portion of New Gold’s mineral claims surrounding the past producing Ajax pits. Abacus must spend $2.5 million within 2 years and complete a preliminary economic study within 6 months following the 2-year period. If economic mineralization is found, the mine will be developed as a joint venture whereby Abacus would own 60% in the event of an open pit operation, while New Gold would own 60% in an underground operation.
“These agreements enable us to move aggressively toward development of the Afton-Ajax Project,” said Doug Fulcher, Abacus President and Chief Executive Officer. “Abacus is focused on consolidating the Ajax East and West pits into one large-scale operation with a potential strike length of at least 1.5 kilometres.”
New Gold’s New Afton underground mine is the more advanced of the two projects. The mine received approval by British Columbia for construction, operation and reclamation in early November 2007. In March, the company received a completed Feasibility Study coordinated by Hatch Ltd. (notably, the same firm to calculate the Galore Creek costs).
The mine is expected to cost $268 million to develop, with additional life of mine expenditures of $215 million. The company presently has approximately $218 million in cash and cash equivalents plus its short-term investments in ABCP of $153 million.
The deposit has resources of 1.5 billion pounds of copper and 1.6 million ounces of gold and more than 3 million ounces of silver. Production could potentially start in 2009 at a rate of 11,000 tonnes per day for an initial 12-year mine life, producing an average of 82,000 ounces of gold (max. 100,000 ounces) and 78 million pounds of copper per annum with cash costs of negative $852/oz net of copper and silver credits.
The study estimates annual cash flow averaging about $110 million with a maximum pre-tax cash flow of more than $120 million per year. The pre-tax net present value at discount rates of 0% and 5% is estimated at $614 million and $266 million, respectively.
On the other side, Abacus expects to complete a new NI43-101 compliant resource estimate of the Ajax pits by June 2008, a preliminary economic analysis by mid-2008 and a feasibility study by 2009. The feasibility study will examine a 40,000 to 60,000 tonne per day surface mining operation at the project, with potential production planned to start up as early as 2010.
The Ajax West property has a NI 43-101 compliant Inferred Resource estimate produced by Beacon Hill Consultants in 1988, which shows 1.18 billion pounds of copper and 1.1 million ounces of gold at a 0.20% Cu cutoff grade. The new resource estimate, however, will encompass recent drill results from both the Ajax West and Ajax East pits.
In 2004, Abacus announced their first two NI 43-101 compliant resources for the DM/Audra and Rainbow deposits in the Afton area. DM/Audra contains total resources of 283.23 million pounds of copper and 203,186 ounces of gold, while Rainbow hosts 369.5 million pounds of copper and 133,400 ounces of gold at a 0.20% copper cutoff grade.
Abacus has completed over 75,000 metres of diamond drilling to date in the joint venture area between the previously drilled Ajax West and Ajax East pits. The 2007 drill program will include over 50,000 metres of drilling and will move the project towards a planned 2008 feasibility report. Abacus expects to complete the drilling program by the end of March 2008.
New Gold stock was last trading up 24 cents at $6.95 on AMEX, while Abacus shares were up 2 cents at 35 Canadian cents on the TSX-Venture Exchange. New Gold has 37 million shares outstanding with a current market cap of $253.4 million, while Abacus has 108 million shares outstanding with a quoted market cap of C$35.6 million.