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HALIFAX, NS (MINEWEB) - Extorre Gold Mines (TSX: XG) is weighing development options at its Cerro Morogold-silver project in Argentina with a new plan in the works thatwould initially focus on open pit mining to reduce start-up capitalcosts. Extorre said it could generate "substantial cash flows" from openpit mining high-grade gold-silver veins that would then help paythe way for further growth as it ramped up Cerro Moro through astaged mine development. The open-pit kickstart option is incontrast to past outlines which considered concurrentunderground/open pit scenarios at Cerro Moro. Extorre said the new "initiative is advancing rapidly" and that theroutes pursued to finance mine construction "will be those that arethe least dilutive to shareholders" as it is "particularlysensitive to shareholder dilution." The potential from high-grade open pit mining at Cerro Moro isobvious. In long section it is clear that much high grade materialis close to surface at Cerro Moro. And in past scoping studiesExtorre has published phenomenal gold-silver grades from open-pitmining at the outset of potential mining operations. Back in 2010, for example, (subsequent to which the project hasgrown in scope and resources), Extorre said it would open pit mine64,878 tonnes @ 14.70 g/t gold and 401.86 g/t silver and 178,272tonnes @ 15.10 g/t Au and 425.62 g/t Ag, respectively, in each ofthe first two years of production from the Escondida vein. Suchhigh grades are uncommon for an open pit mine. Since that scoping study, which was for a concurrentunderground/open pit mining operation, Extorre has added especiallyhigh grade mineralization from a new discovery, the Zoe zone, amongother areas. How this staged development scenario would alter the initialcapital costs on the project was not clear. (An Extorrespokesperson, in the midst of travel, was not available forcomment.) Extorre only stated that cash flow from the new optioncould then "fund the balance of the capital expenditure reported inPEA-3." In that scoping study, the third to outline mining scenarios atCerro Moro, Extorre pegged initial capital costs at $284 millionand $257 million respectively for 1,300- and 1,150-tonne-per-dayoperations. In total Extorre proposed to mine 850,000 ounces gold and 47million ounces silver over nine years in PEA-3. Meantime, Extorre has brought on board an experienced mine engineerto lead it. In April it appointed Trevor Mulroney, whose resumeincludes general manager of development on Mirabella Nickel'sopen-pit nickel mine in Brazil, as president and CEO. SUBSCRIBE to Mineweb.com's free daily newsletter now. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as 10x20 Trade Show Booth Manufacturer , China Portable Tradeshow Booths, and more. For more , please visit Exhibition Booth Display today!
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