Wednesday, August 31, 2005 NICKEL miner and gold hopeful View Resources has signed a toll treatment agreement with newly listed junior explorer Korab Resources that will see ore from Korabs's nearby Melrose gold deposit treated at the currently idle Bronzewing plant.
View said it expected that between 700,000 tonnes and 1.2 million tonnes per annum would be treated at Bronzewing with the company also allowing Korab to use accommodation and office facilities at its Bronzewing mine. Melrose is understood to contain a resource of 306,000 ounces.
The announcement made no mention of timeframe or other details, with MiningNews.net unable to reach the principals involved.
In May View outlined an underground resource of more than 400,000oz of gold at Bronzewing, primarily from the Cockburn deposit. The company is currently undertaking a feasibility study at Bronzewing, considering an underground mine producing around 70,000-80,000oz per annum of gold for a minimum of five years, which it said would only partially utilise the existing mill capacity.
"The introduction of third party feed would subsequently result in significant reduction in unit cost of treated ore," View managing director Derek Lenartowicz said in today's statement.
A larger scale project at Bronzewing was put on hold in March when the rise in contractor rates meant further resources or a stronger gold price were required.
Melrose is 40km from Bronzewing, with the deposit said to remain open at depth and containing a high-grade near-surface supergene resource. An open-cut is being considered.
The junior also holds a number of uranium prospects, including tenements adjacent to the historical Rum Jungle uranium mine in the Northern Territory.
Shares in View were trading off 0.5c (3.3%) at 14.5c.
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