Future Expansion

FUTURE EXPANSION / ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT

The future of the Cavanacaw property lies in the development of an underground mine. An active program of drilling is assessing the gold and silver resource at depth. Detailed costing studies have been carried out to estimate the cost of underground development and these studies will be released in conjunction with a revised resource report  for the property. The report will comment upon the financial studies and be to a standard suitable for publication in Canada (National Instrument 43-101). 
Plans to develop an underground mine are at an advanced stage and are going through a pre-consultation process (March 2012). The plans include include a cut and cover adit within the backfilled open pit (being currently worked), with a spiral decline to the base of the Phase 1 Underground Mine and a raise bored shaft to provide emergency egress and ventilation. The principal mining method will be by shrinkage-stoping and long term stability will be assured by backfilling with waste rock and clean tailing sands. Potentially the mine may progress to deeper levels than that planned for Phase 1 but this will be subject to the identification of resources by drilling.
An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), based upon new data and data from 14 years of environmental monitoring, is being drawn up to be submitted to Planning Service, Northern Ireland. The EIA considers the processes involved, impact on water, air and noise amongst other environmental factors.
The figures below represent an early stage iteration of plans and are presented to give a generalised picture of the underground development.