WESTERN STANDARD METALS LTD. : http://www.westernstandardmetals.com/ : QwikReport
Almaden Gold Project
The project is 100% owned by the Company.
The project is located in rural western Idaho with excellent access and nearby hydro-electric power lines. The project is host to a low-sulphidation, epithermal gold deposit drilled extensively from 1978 to 1992 by a number of companies including Homestake and Amax Gold. Freegold optioned the property in 1995 and commissioned Watts, Griffis and McOuat ("WGM") to complete a feasibility study based on additional drilling and metallurgical test work completed by Freegold. The feasibility study, completed in 1997, envisioned gold production of approximately 100,000 ounces/year over a 5-year mine life by open pit mining and heap leach extraction.
The project hosts a NI43-101 compliant measured resource of 239,000 ounces of gold (9,810,000 tonnes grading 0.754 g/t), an indicated resource of 625,000 ounces of gold (29,250,000 tonnes grading 0.651 g/t), and an inferred resource of 84,000 ounces of gold (4,780,000 tonnes grading 0.549 g/t), at the cut-off grades of 0.274 g/t, 0.411 g/t, and 0.789 g/t grams per tonne for the oxide, mixed, and sulfide mineralization, respectively.
WSM plans on initiating a drill program to explore the extension of the near surface mineralization that is open to the north and south, as well as test for deeper high-grade structurally controlled gold mineralization. This would be similar to Midas (Newmont) and Hollister (Great Basin Gold), where several million high-grade ounces have been identified.
In conjunction with the exploration program, WSM will undertake a new resource-estimate and metallurgical test work that will form the basis of a feasibility study that examines and optimizes various production scenarios to determine the most economically viable method to extract and process the mineralization, while minimizing the effects on the environment.