St Barbara Limited announce the completion of the Pre-feasibility Study (PFS) of its 100% owned 15 Mile Project, in Trafalgar, Nova Scotia, prepared in accordance with Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves.
Previously identified as, Fifteen Mile Stream Gold Project, the 15 Mile Project has been modified from producing flotation and gravity concentrates to delivering gold doré bars through conventional gravity and carbon in leach cyanidation techniques.
The change of project design allows for the reuse of the existing Touquoy processing plant, reducing the capital expenditure from previous management estimates and improving overall gold recoveries from direct whole ore leach as opposed to leaching of concentrates. The Project design layout has undergone a complete revision to achieve minimal disturbance and maximum capital and operating cost efficiency.
Managing Director and CEO Andrew Strelein stated “With this strong PFS result, St Barbara will now focus on preparation of an updated environmental and social impact assessment for this new standalone design of the 15 Mile Project.
St Barbara is looking forward to working with Nova Scotia to create hundreds of well-paid rural jobs and to remediating the historical tailings at the site. The Feasibility Study engineering is intended to be ramped up as we see progress towards Environmental Approval with commencement of development entirely achievable in mid calendar 2026.”
The key takeaways in the accordance of the PFS are,
1: Ore Reserves, that increased by 7% to 618,000 ounces of contained gold.
2: Capital Efficient Outcome say, initial capital of C$182 million (A$207 million) including mine pre-production, mine fleet, processing, and infrastructure.
3: Overall the report looks like a stable for production profile, that show an average 55-60 koz gold produced per year over the 11 year life of mine.