Western Copper and Gold (TSX: WRN; NYSE: WRN) says it is preparing material from seven holes drilled last year at the Casino copper-gold project 300 km northwest of Whitehorse, Yukon, for metallurgical tests. The sample will provide the basis for testing on a range of grades, host rocks and mineralogy.
Drilling results continue to show the importance of the Core zone, says Western. That zone was intersected by DDH23-05 over 158.5 metres of supergene mineralization (in part oxidized) with 0.82% copper equivalent. Hole DDH23-04, 1 km west of the Core zone, intercepted 86 metres of 0.56% copper equivalent, and hole DDH23-06, on the northwest edge of t he Core zone, intercepted 174 metres at 0.52% copper equivalent.
Western has prepared 15 composite samples that will undergo comminution and flotation tests to produce concentrates. The results will be used to develop a more detailed geometallurgical model of the deposit. The tests will be supervised by Western, its 10% owner Rio Tinto Canada, and its 7% owner Mitsubishi Materials.
The Casino project will be a conventional open pit with a single-line SAG mill circuit followed by conventional flotation to produce a saleable concentrate. There will also be a separate carbon-in-column circuit to recovery precious metals from heap leached oxide ore. A power plant will be built to generate electrical power for Casino using LNG to fuel the generator drivers.
The project is anticipated to produce approximately 6.95 million oz. of gold, 36.1 million oz. of silver, 4.27 billion lb. of copper and 346 million lb. of molybdenum over the 27-year life of the mine.
The feasibility study produced in 2022 was based on both material suitable for milling and that for heap leaching. For milling there are 2.36 billion tonnes of measured and indicated resources grading 0.15% copper, 0.18 g/t gold, 0.016% molybdenum, and 1.1 g/t silver. The leachable measured and indicated resource is 231.7 million tonnes grading 0.04% copper, 0.25 g/t gold, and 0.27 g/t silver.
All told, the measured and indicated resources for Casino are 2.49 billion tonnes containing 7.6 million lb. of copper, 14.8 million oz. of gold, and 117.2 million oz. of silver. The deposit contains 7.64 billion lb. of copper, 14.8 million oz. of gold, and 117.2 million oz. of silver.
The total inferred resource is 1.41 billion tonnes grading 0.10% copper, 0.14 g/t gold, and 1.2 g/t silver.
Western expects to submit the Casino environmental study to the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board in the second half of this year.
Details of the Casino project are posted on www.CasinoMining.com.
