Test mining of an initial 80,000 tonnes at Barkerville Gold Mines' (TSXV: BGM; US-OTC: BGMZF) Bonanza Ledge underground gold mine in south central B.C. returned higher-than expected grades and confirmed mill recoveries.
Barkerville extracted test material using long-hole mining methods on two levels of the Bonanza Ledge mine. The test graded 7.05 grams gold per tonne compared to a planned 6.5 grams gold per tonne; it confirmed expected 91.6% mill recoveries.
Bonanza Ledge is part of the company's larger Cariboo gold district. The company says data from this test will help the company improve the economics at other projects in Cariboo, such as Cow Mountain and Island Mountain.
Cow Mountain hosts the historic Cariboo Gold Quartz mine which produced 1.68 million tonnes grading 0.37 gram gold for 621,000 oz. gold between 1933 and 1959.
Island Mountain hosts two past producing gold mines, Aurum and Mosquito Creek, which collectively produced more than 620,000 oz. gold.
The company has built all the infrastructure and completed underground development at Bonanza Ledge. It has milled more than 70,000 tonnes to date, achieving mine production of 2,000 tonnes per day and mill production of 800 tonnes per day.
The company intends to complete a feasibility study on Bonanza Ledge in 2019.
The project contains 684,900 measured and indicated tonnes grading 7.21 grams gold for 158,800 oz. gold.
Shares of Barkerville are currently trading at 43 ? with a 52-week range of 35 ? to 91 ?. The company has a $189 million market capitalization.