Seabridge Gold Inc. (TSX: SEA)(NYSE Amex: SA) announced today that
it plans to spend approximately $15 million this year to advance
its 100% owned Courageous Lake gold project towards a National
Instrument 43-101 compliant Preliminary Feasibility Study. The main
objective of the program is to conduct further diamond drilling
designed to upgrade a substantial portion of the existing inferred
resource at the project to the measured and indicated resource
categories.
The Courageous Lake project consists of 27,263 hectares (67,366
acres) covering 53 kilometers (33 miles) of a greenstone belt in
Canada's Northwest Territories, including the two kilometer long
FAT deposit which has estimated gold resources as set out below
(see news release of February 28, 2007 for details):
Courageous Lake Estimated Gold Resources at 0.83 gram per tonne cutoff
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Measured Indicated Inferred
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Tonnes Grade Ounces Tonnes Grade Ounces Tonnes Grade Ounces
(000's) (g/T) (000's) (000's) (g/T) (000's) (000's) (g/T) (000's)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
6,293 2.92 591 53,020 2.14 3,648 93,720 1.98 5,966
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In March 2008, Seabridge released the results of a Preliminary
Assessment (see news release dated March 10, 2008) in which the
independent consultants concluded that an open-pit mining
operation, with on-site processing, is the most suitable
development scenario for the Courageous Lake project. A base case
scenario was developed proposing a 25,000 tonne per day operation
(9.125 million tonne per year throughput) resulting in a projected
11.6 year operation with average estimated annual production of
500,500 ounces of gold at an estimated life of mine average cash
operating cost of US$435 per ounce recovered. The base case
scenario utilized measured, indicated and inferred resources in the
mine plan. Initial capital costs for the project were estimated at
US$848 million, including a contingency of US$111 million. The
total cost of gold production (including cash operating costs and
total capital costs over the life of the mine) was estimated at
US$590 per ounce.
At a gold price of US$690 per ounce, the base case cumulative
pre-tax net cash flow over the life of the project was estimated at
US$500 million. At a gold price of US$800 per ounce, the cumulative
pre-tax net cash flow over the life of the project was estimated at
US$ 1.13 billion.
Seabridge notes that the Courageous Lake Preliminary Assessment
incorporated inferred mineral resources which are considered too
geologically speculative to have the economic considerations
applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral
reserves. Therefore, Seabridge advises that there can be no
certainty that the estimates contained in the Preliminary
Assessment will be realized.
Seabridge President and CEO Rudi Fronk noted that "at the gold
price prevailing when we completed the Preliminary Assessment, the
Courageous Lake project was clearly marginal. We believe that at
current gold prices, Courageous Lake could add significant value to
Seabridge. We therefore intend to update the Preliminary Assessment
in early 2011, with the objective of completing a National
Instrument 43-101 compliant Preliminary Feasibility Study in early
2012."
The program planned for 2010 includes environmental and
permitting work, engineering and metallurgical consulting and
geotechnical, environmental and definition drilling. Seabridge's
recent equity financing was undertaken in part to fund this
program. Approximately 18,000 meters of diamond drilling is planned
in 40 holes which will target about 1/2 of the inferred resource.
The program is expected to start in June 2010.
National Instrument 43-101 Disclosure
The mineral resource estimates for Courageous Lake were prepared
by Resource Modeling, Inc. under the direction of Michael J.
Lechner. The 2008 Courageous Lake Preliminary Assessment was
prepared by Wardrop Inc. under the direction of Frank Grills, and
included the work of other consultants (see news release of March
10, 2008). The 2010 Courageous Lake exploration program will be
under the direction of William E. Threlkeld, Senior Vice President
of Seabridge. All three individuals are Qualified Persons under
National Instrument 43-101 and have approved this news release.
Seabridge holds a 100% interest in several North American gold
projects. The Company's principal assets are the KSM property
located near Stewart, British Columbia, Canada and the Courageous
Lake gold project located in Canada's Northwest Territories. For a
breakdown of Seabridge's mineral reserves and mineral resources by
category please visit the Company's website at
http://www.seabridgegold.net/resources.php.
All reserve and resource estimates reported by the Corporation
were calculated in accordance with the Canadian National Instrument
43-101 and the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy
Classification system. These standards differ significantly from
the requirements of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Mineral resources which are not mineral reserves do not have
demonstrated economic viability.
This document contains "forward-looking information" within the
meaning of Canadian securities legislation and "forward-looking
statements" within the meaning of the United States Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. This information and
these statements, referred to herein as "forward-looking
statements" are made as of the date of this document but many of
them relate to estimates and projections prepared in 2007 and 2008.
Forward-looking statements relate to future events or future
performance and reflect current estimates, predictions,
expectations or beliefs regarding future events and include, but
are not limited to, statements with respect to: (i) the amount of
mineral reserves and mineral resources; (ii) the amount of future
production over any period; (iii) cumulative pre-tax net cash flow
of the proposed mining operation; (iv) capital costs; (v) operating
costs, including credits from the sale of other metals; (vi) mining
rates; (vii) mine life; (vii) planned expenditures; and (ix)
upgrading inferred resources. Any statements that express or
involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations,
beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future
events or performance (often, but not always, using words or
phrases such as "expects", "anticipates", "plans", "projects",
"estimates", "envisages", "assumes", "intends", "strategy",
"goals", "objectives" or variations thereof or stating that certain
actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or
"will" be taken, occur or be achieved, or the negative of any of
these terms and similar expressions) are not statements of
historical fact and may be forward-looking statements.
All forward-looking statements are based on Seabridge's or its
consultants' current beliefs as well as various assumptions made by
and information currently available to them. These assumptions
include: (i) the presence of and continuity of metals at the
Project at modeled grades; (ii) the capacities of various machinery
and equipment; (iii) the availability of personnel, machinery and
equipment at estimated prices; (iv) exchange rates; (v) metals
sales prices; (vi) appropriate discount rates; (vii) tax rates and
royalty rates applicable to the proposed mining operation; (viii)
financing structure and costs; (ix) anticipated mining losses and
dilution; (x) metals recovery rates, (xi) reasonable contingency
requirements; (xiii) receipt of regulatory approvals on acceptable
terms; and (xiv) the negotiation of satisfactory terms with
impacted First Nations groups. Although management considers these
assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently
available to it, they may prove to be incorrect. Many
forward-looking statements are made assuming the correctness of
other forward looking statements, such as statements of cumulative
pre-tax net cash flow, which are based on other forward-looking
statements and assumptions herein. The cost information is also
prepared using earlier values, but the time for incurring the costs
will be in the future and it is assumed costs will remain stable
over the relevant period.
By their very nature, forward-looking statements involve
inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, and
risks exist that estimates, forecasts, projections and other
forward-looking statements will not be achieved or that assumptions
do not reflect future experience. We caution readers not to place
undue reliance on these forward-looking statements as a number of
important factors could cause the actual outcomes to differ
materially from the beliefs, plans, objectives, expectations,
anticipations, estimates assumptions and intentions expressed in
such forward-looking statements. These risk factors may be
generally stated as the risk that the assumptions and estimates
expressed above do not occur, but specifically include, without
limitation, risks relating to variations in the mineral content
within the material identified as mineral reserves from that
predicted, variations in rates of recovery and extraction;
developments in world metals markets, risks relating to
fluctuations in the Canadian dollar relative to the US dollar,
increases in the estimated capital and operating costs or
unanticipated costs, difficulties attracting the necessary work
force, increases in financing costs or adverse changes to the terms
of available financing, if any, tax rates or royalties being
greater than assumed, changes in development or mining plans due to
changes in logistical, technical or other factors, changes in
project parameters as plans continue to be refined, risks relating
to receipt of regulatory approvals or settlement of an agreement
with impacted First Nations groups, the effects of competition in
the markets in which Seabridge operates, operational and
infrastructure risks and the additional risks described in
Seabridge's Annual Information Form filed with SEDAR in Canada
(available at www.sedar.com) for the year ended December 31, 2009
and in the Corporation's Annual Report Form 40-F filed with the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on EDGAR (available at
www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml). Seabridge cautions that the foregoing
list of factors that may affect future results is not
exhaustive.
When relying on our forward-looking statements to make decisions
with respect to Seabridge, investors and others should carefully
consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties and
potential events. Seabridge does not undertake to update any
forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be
made from time to time by Seabridge or on our behalf, except as
required by law.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
Rudi Fronk, President & C.E.O.
Contacts: Seabridge Gold Inc. Rudi P. Fronk President and C.E.O.
(416) 367-9292 (416) 367-2711 (FAX) info@seabridgegold.net
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