Pretium Resources Inc. (TSX:PVG) (NYSE:PVG) (“Pretivm” or the
“Company”) is pleased to provide an operations update for fourth
quarter 2017 and the first six months of ramp-up at the high-grade
gold Brucejack Mine, and provide guidance for the first six months
of 2018 as the ramp-up continues at Brucejack.
Fourth Quarter 2017 and Six Months
Ramp-Up Production Highlights
- 70,281 ounces of gold produced in the fourth quarter of 2017,
for a total of 152,484 ounces of gold produced during the first six
months of production ramp-up;
- 95.8% gold recovery rate in the fourth quarter of 2017 for an
average gold recovery rate of 96.2% for the first six months of
production ramp-up;
- 271,501 tonnes of ore milled in the fourth quarter of 2017 for
a total of 532,763 tonnes of ore milled as at December 31,
2017;
- 2,951 tonnes per day processed on average during the fourth
quarter of 2017 for an average processing rate of 2,895 tonnes per
day during the first six months of production ramp-up.
Establishing Long-Term Mine
Infrastructure
2017 Mining and Infrastructure Development
During and prior to the second half of 2017,
underground development focused on establishing sills and opening
levels laterally at the Brucejack Mine in support of the long-term
mine plan, which will provide optionality in mining stopes.
Access to the broadest possible range of stopes will maximize stope
blending and is expected to improve the management of production
grades as the ramp-up continues at the Brucejack Mine. In the
third quarter of 2017, underground development established a sill
on the 1320-meter Level of the Brucejack Mine, the first of two
sills planned for the first year of mining at Brucejack.
During the third quarter and through the fourth quarter,
underground development established a sill at the 1200-meter Level
of the mine, and work continued on the lateral development to the
east and west.
2018 Mining and Infrastructure Development
Establishment of the two sills has opened up two
mining horizons for 2018, the 1200-meter Level to the 1320-meter
Level and the 1320-meter Level to the 1440-meter Level. With
30-meter sublevels between sills, these two sills are expected to
provide access to eight mining levels by mid-year. With the
continued extension of the mining levels to the east and west
within the two mining horizons, supported by continued infill
drilling (see Infill Drilling below), mining level access to stopes
with a greater range of grade is expected to be available through
2018.
Establishing Mine Grade
Control
Underground Sampling
The grade control program originally planned to
be operational early in the fourth quarter of 2017 is now expected
to be operational in the middle of the first quarter of 2018.
When fully operational, the grade control program is expected to
provide an estimated grade for each ring blasted within a long-hole
stope. This information will allow the blending of ore from
the various stopes on a ring-by-ring basis to smooth out head grade
to the mill.
The sample splitting station, a key component of
the grade control program that provides a homogenous sample for
each ring blasted within a long-hole stope, has been re-engineered
to better handle day-to-day mining operations. Modifications
have been completed and commissioning of the sample splitting
station is underway. The upgraded and more robust sample
splitting station is expected to be fully operational by the middle
of this quarter.
Infill Drilling
Another component of the grade control program
is infill drilling of stopes to 7.5-meter to 10-meter centers (the
infill drill spacing planned for long-term mining operations at
Brucejack) prior to mining. A reverse circulation underground
infill program will commence in February on a trial basis.
Reverse circulation drilling will provide a larger sample per meter
and should be faster and more cost effective than core drilling,
which has been used for infill drilling to date. If the trial
program is successful, reverse circulation drilling will be adopted
for long-term grade control infill drilling.
Reconciliation of 2017 Ramp-Up
Production
Grade reconciliation to the reserve model for
the period August 1, 2017 to December 31, 2017 was approximately
75% to 80%. During the period, ore from the stopes developed
on the 1200-meter Level sill provided approximately 25% of mill
feed. These stopes were mined in establishing the 1200-meter
Level sill as part of the long-term mine plan and had a lower drill
density than stopes on other levels of the mine. As the grade
control program becomes operational and mining moves up from the
1200-meter Level into areas with higher drill density,
reconciliation is expected to improve.
Lyle Morgenthaler, B.A.Sc., P.Eng., Chief Mine
Engineer, Pretium Resources Inc. is the Qualified Person (“QP”)
responsible for Brucejack Mine development. Warwick Board, Ph.D.,
P.Geo, Pr.Sci.Nat., Vice President, Geology and Chief Geologist,
Pretium Resources Inc. is the Qualified Person (“QP”) responsible
for Brucejack Mine reconciliation of 2017 ramp-up production.
Other 2018 Activities
Mill Operations
The main operating units in the mill building
are performing as expected, other than the concentrate bagging
system which is requiring increased mill downtime and
maintenance. Planning is underway to replace or upgrade the
system. With the filing of the permit amendment application
in December 2017 to increase the plant production capacity to 3,800
tonnes per day, engineering and planning are underway to increase
production capacity pending the approval of the permit amendment, a
process which is expected to take six to 12 months.
Grass-roots Exploration
Planning is underway for the 2018 grassroots
exploration program on the wholly-owned Bowser Claim Group, which
is expected to begin in late spring.
Achieving Steady State Production - 2018
Guidance
H1 2018 Guidance
As the ramp-up of mining into areas of higher
definition drilling continues, steady state gold production is now
expected to be achieved in mid-to-late 2018. Gold production
at Brucejack for the first half of 2018 is expected in the range of
150,000 ounces to 200,000 ounces, for total first year ramp-up gold
production of 302,000 ounces to 352,000 ounces (July 1, 2017 to
June 30, 2018). The achievement of steady state mining in
areas with higher drill density and the grade control program in
full operation will enable the Company to provide further
production guidance later in 2018.
2018 Financial Guidance
All in sustaining costs1 for the first half of
2018 are expected to range from US$700 per ounce gold sold to
US$900 per ounce gold sold. As operations continue to ramp-up
at the Brucejack Mine through 2018, an increased focus will be
placed on operational efficiency to reduce costs.
Appointments
Pretivm has realigned its senior leadership to
correspond to changes in the organisational structure. Michelle
Romero has been promoted from Vice President, Corporate to
Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs and Sustainability. Tom
S.Q. Yip has been promoted to Executive Vice President and Chief
Financial Officer. Warwick Board, Ph.D., P.Geo, Pr.Sci.Nat., has
been promoted to Vice President, Geology and Chief Geologist.
Fourth Quarter and Year-End 2017
Financial Results – Webcast and Conference Call
Pretivm plans to release its fourth quarter and
year-end 2017 operational and financial results after market close
on Thursday, March 8, 2018. The webcast and conference call to
discuss these results will take place Friday, March 9, 2018 at 8:00
am PT (11:00 am ET).
Webcast and conference call details:
Friday,
March 9, 2018 at 8:00 am PT (11:00 am ET) |
Webcast |
www.pretivm.com |
Toll Free (North
America) |
1-800-319-4610 |
International and
Vancouver |
604-638-5340 |
About Pretivm
Pretivm is ramping-up gold production at the
high-grade underground Brucejack mine in northern British
Columbia.
For further information contact:
Joseph Ovsenek |
Troy Shultz |
President &
CEO |
Manager, Investor
Relations & |
|
Corporate
Communications |
Pretium Resources Inc. Suite 2300, Four Bentall Centre, 1055
Dunsmuir Street PO Box 49334 Vancouver, BC V7X 1L4 (604) 558-1784
invest@pretivm.com (SEDAR filings: Pretium Resources Inc.)
(1) All-In Sustaining Costs
All-in sustaining cost (“AISC”) is a non-IFRS
performance measure calculated as the sum of total cash costs,
sustaining capital expenditures, accretion on decommissioning and
restoration provision, treatment and refinery charges netted
against revenue, site share-based compensation, and corporate
administrative costs, all divided by the gold ounces sold to arrive
at a per ounce amount. The Company believes that this measure, in
addition to measures prepared in accordance with IFRS, provide
investors an improved ability to evaluate the underlying
performance of the Company and to compare it to information
reported by other companies. The non-IFRS measures are intended to
provide additional information and should not be considered in
isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared
in accordance with IFRS. These measures do not have any
standardized meaning prescribed under IFRS, and therefore may not
be comparable to other issuers.
Forward-Looking Statements
This News Release contains “forward-looking
information” and “forward looking statements” within the meaning of
applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation.
Statements contained herein that are not based on historical or
current fact, including without limitation statements containing
the words “anticipates,” “believes,” “may,” “continues,”
“estimates,” “expects,” and “will” and words of similar import,
constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the
U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Forward-looking information may include, but is not limited to,
information with respect to: production and cost guidance; our
planned exploration and development activities, the accuracy of our
mineral resource estimates; capital and operating cost estimates;
production and processing estimates; the results, the adequacy of
Pretivm's financial resources, the estimation of mineral reserves
and resources including the 2016 Valley of the Kings Mineral
Resource estimate and the Brucejack Mineral Reserve estimate,
realization of mineral reserve and resource estimates and timing of
development of Pretivm's Brucejack Mine, costs and timing of future
exploration, results of future exploration and drilling, production
and processing estimates, capital and operating cost estimates,
timelines and similar statements relating to the economic viability
of the Brucejack Mine, timing and receipt of approvals, consents
and permits under applicable legislation, Pretivm's executive
compensation approach and practice, and statements regarding USD
cash flows and the recurrence of foreign currency translation
adjustments. Wherever possible, words such as “plans”, “expects”,
“guidance”, “projects”, “assumes”, “budget”, “strategy”,
“scheduled”, “estimates”, “forecasts”, “anticipates”, “believes”,
“intends”, “targets” and similar expressions or statements that
certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “might”
or “will” be taken, occur or be achieved, or the negative forms of
any of these terms and similar expressions, have been used to
identify forward-looking statements and information. Statements
concerning mineral reserve and resource estimates may also be
deemed to constitute forward-looking information to the extent that
they involve estimates of the mineralization that will be
encountered if the property is developed. Any statements that
express or involve discussions with respect to predictions,
expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions
or future events or performance are not statements of historical
fact and may be forward-looking information. Forward-looking
information is subject to a variety of known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or
results to differ from those expressed or implied by the
forward-looking information, including, without limitation, those
risks identified in Pretivm's Annual Information Form dated March
30, 2017 filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and in the United States
on Form 40-F through EDGAR at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.
Forward-looking information is based on the expectations and
opinions of Pretivm's management on the date the statements are
made. The assumptions used in the preparation of such statements,
although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may
prove to be imprecise. We do not assume any obligation to update
forward-looking information, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by
applicable law. For the reasons set forth above, prospective
investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking
information. Neither the TSX nor the NYSE has approved or
disapproved of the information contained herein.
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