NioGold, an attractive proposition

 McWatters Mines acquired two major assets in the Val-d’Or/Malartic area from Placer Dome - the Sigma Mine and the Kiena Mine Complex.

In 2004 McWatters went bankrupt - all their land became open for acquisition.

Osisko Mining Corp. (TSX: T.OSK, Stock Forum) purchased the Canadian Malartic Project, Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd. (TSX: V.WDO, Stock Forum) purchased the Kiena Mine Complex, and NioGold Mining Corp. (TSX: V.NOX, Stock Forum) purchased (for $10,000 and right in the heart of the Val-d’Or/Malartic mining camp), three large claim blocks that were relatively underexplored compared to the rest of the area.

Then, in early 2006, NioGold signed a deal with Aur Resources to acquire the other 50% interest in Marban it did not already own, and 100% interest in two other properties (First Canadian and Norlartic). Between these three properties (which include three past producing mines) there were 585,000 ounces of past gold production and a lot of upside according to NOX’s due diligence. 

Over a period of several years NioGold managed to consolidate a large 130 square kilometer land package right in the heart of the Malartic and Val-d’Or gold mining camps – an impressive feat. Since the 1930s the Cadillac, Malartic, and Val d’Or (French for - “valley of gold”) camps have produced upwards of 45 million ounces of gold. 

NioGold Mining and Aurizon Mines Ltd. (TSX: T.ARZ, Stock Forum) (ARZ is earning an initial 50 percent interest into the 10 square kilometer project – eight percent of NioGold’s land holdings -  by spending $20 million and making a resource payment of $40 per ounce for M+I and $30 for Inferred for half of the identified gold) have just announced, based on results from a $6m Marban deposit drill program (41,270 meters in 146 holes) an updated mineral resource estimate.

The new resource estimation boosts their previously published resource from 960,000 ozs to 2,069,000 ozs of gold - 1,559,000 ozs measured & indicated & 510,000 ozs inferred – over 75 percent of those ounces are in the M&I category (which bodes well for overall resource quality) and the size of the resource is sufficient to support 150k+ oz’s of gold production over a ten year mine life.

New Resource Estimate

Based on a cut-off grade of 0.35 grams of gold per tonne and a high value capping of 25 grams of gold per tonne, the in-pit mineral resource is estimated at: 

“Two gold-bearing composite samples were examined at the SGS Mineral Services Lakefield site. The #1 composite containing an assay grade of 1.24 g/t gold was designed to study the metallurgical response of a low grade envelope. The #2 composite containing an assay grade of 4.59 g/t gold and was designed to represent the high grade envelope. After 48 hours, gold recoveries ranged from 95.4% to 97.6% for composite #1 and 95.7% to 97.3% for composite #2. Finer grinding typically increased the gold recovery at the cost of higher cyanide consumption.

NioGold news release April 24, 2012

Gravity separation testing on the #1 composite showed a 41.3% Gravity Recoverable Gold (GRG). Gravity separation testing on the #2 composite showed a 56.5% GRG. The combination of gravity recovery and cyanidation of the gravity tail did not increase the overall gold recovery. This demonstrates that while this concept could be beneficial from a plant design perspective, gravity recovery is not essential to obtaining good recoveries from these two composites.”

There is nothing complex about the ore, it’s basically gold associated with pyrite iron sulfides - no arsenic or antimony and very limited silver, it’s nearly all gold in pretty simple form.

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