The design improvements to enhance its sustainability include a smaller environmental footprint, reduced waste rock production, reduced green house gas emissions by electrification of the mine haul fleet, a 50% increase in mill throughput, and the elimination of capital-intensive block cave mining.
“We have redesigned KSM for an inflationary environment. The themes for this PFS are capital and energy efficiency. The mine plan is simplified to bring total capital down below 2016 estimates despite inflation by reducing sustaining capital,” Seabridge’s CEO Rudi Fronk said in a media release.
The primary reasons for the improvements in the plan arise from the acquisition of the East Mitchell open pit resource and an expansion to planned mill throughput. Since 2016, the reserve base at KSM (proven and probable) has grown 22%, from 38.8 million oz. to 47.3 million oz. (2.3 billion tonnes grading 0.64 g/t), due to higher gold grades…
