British Columbia has granted a permit for early construction work at the Blackwater gold project belonging to Artemis Gold (TSXV: ARTG). This is the first step in construction of a mine, allowing for site preparations and land cleaning at the site 150 km southwest of Prince George, B.C.
Blackwater is estimated to be the largest gold mine development in the Cariboo region of B.C. in the last decade, supporting regional employment over 25 years, including the construction period, with the potential for that to be extended through further exploration.
Blackwater is to be connected to the BC Hydro grid, which is powered by hydro-electricity providing it with a sustainable source of low-carbon power, with the potential to produce gold and silver with one of the lowest GHG emissions from an open pit in the world.
The project will be developed in phases as an open pit and carbon-in-pulp processing plant. Initial capital requirements will be $592 million for phase one with a mill capacity of 5.5 million tonnes per year and an annual output of 248,000 oz. of gold. Over the 23-year life of the mine, throughput will be increased to 20 million tonnes per year with two further expansion phases.
The Blackwater gold project has an after-tax net present value (at a 5% discount rate) of $2.2 billion, an internal rate of return of 35%, and a payback period of two years.
The deposit is estimated to contain 251 million measured and indicated tonnes grading - 1.04 grams gold per tonne and 8.3 grams silver per tonne for 8.4 million oz. gold and 68 million oz. silver. The inferred estimate is 5.6 million tonnes at 0.79 gram gold per tonne and 26 grams silver per tonne, containing 142,000 oz. gold and 4.6 million oz. silver. These numbers reflect a 0.5 gram per tonne gold cut-off.