43-101 2008 Technical Report On The La Fortuna Project, Durango ...

Undiluted Reserves at $700 per Ounce Gold
Overburden Tonnes 23,700,000
Oxide Below 0.15 g/tonne* 19,600,000
Subtotal, Waste Rock 43,300,000
In-Pit Proven and Probable Reserves
In-Pit Inferred Resources
Cut-off Tonnes Average Cut-off Tonnes Average
Grade Above Grade Grade Above Grade
(g/tonne) Cut-off (g/tonne) Ounces (g/tonne) Cut-off (g/tonne) Ounces
0.15 58,400,000 0.46 870,000 0.15 131,000 0.30 1,300
* This material must be mined but does not meet the processing cut-off.
14.2.6 Mine Plan and Schedule
Mine plans and a mining schedule were developed for the $625 per ounce scenario (see Appendix A). A
bias was introduced into the optimization process that outlined incremental pits within the $625 pit that
could be mined at higher average grades. This resulted in higher grades being mined during the early
years to repay capital costs, with progressively lower grades being mined in later years. While Howe has
developed an optimized production schedule to show the potential of long term mine planning, Howe has
used the average grade in developing the Castle Gold mine cash flow forecasts.
The overall mine life based at a US$625/oz Au price is eleven years. Ore production ramps up to
5,000,000 tonnes per year (diluted) by Year 3. Also in Year 3, recovered gold production is at its peak at
52,000 ounces) and overburden (waste rock and below-cut-off-oxide) stripping reaches 3,100,000 tonnes
per year.
Level sections showing the resource model and the optimum pit outlines at Year 4, Year 7, Year 9 and
Year 11 (end of mine life) are included in Appendix A
14.2.7 Comparison between Howe 2003 and Howe 2008 Reserve Estimates
Table 13 is a summary table comparing the results between the proven and probable reserve estimates
obtained from the Howe 2003 and Howe 2008 reserve estimates based on various gold prices.
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