Mining News: Pretium applies for Brucejack expansio

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Pretium Resources Inc. Dec. 21 announced plans to increase the production at its Brucejack gold mine in northwestern British Columbia by roughly 40 percent. The company has submitted an application to BC regulatory agencies to increase the mine’s production rate to 3,800 metric tons per day. The mill at Brucejack has a nameplate capacity of 2,700 metric tons per day. However, it has outperformed that capacity since the mine reached commercial production in July. During the third quarter, the mill processed 261,262 metric tons of ore, which equates to roughly 2,840 metric tons per day. The material processed averaged 10.5 grams per metric ton gold and recovery was 96.5 percent. As a result, the operation produced 82,203 ounces of gold and 83,233 oz of silver during the third quarter. The application submitted by Pretium on Dec. 20, 2017 reflects a production rate increase to an annual average of 1.387 million metric tons from the currently approved 0.99 million metric tons. The approval process is expected to take approximately six to twelve months. Pretium is currently assessing the mill upgrades required to increase the production rate. Based on preliminary engineering, the capital cost to increase the mill capacity is estimated to be less than US$25 million and will be updated when the engineering process is complete.