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Kışladağ is a low-grade, bulk-tonnage, open pit operation that uses heap leaching for gold recovery. Kışladağ is located in Usak Province in western Turkey and is the largest gold mine in the country.
1. Kisladag Minerals Reserves (effective January 17, 2020)
Notes: CIM Definition Standards (2014) were used for reporting the Mineral Reserves. Mineral Reserves are estimated based on the following assumptions: metal prices of $1,250/oz Au; cut-off of 0.19 g/t recoverable Au (equivalent to a NSR cut-off of $7.29/t); recovery is variable throughout the block model with average life of mine metallurgical recovery being 56% for all ore; and no dilution and mining recovery of 100% (both already accounted for in the resource block model). The Mineral Reserve is derived from the Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources. The block model supporting these resources has not changed since March 2018 (other than depletion). The Mineral Reserve estimation is constrained by the December 31, 2019 topo surface.
For 2020, the Company is forecasting production of 240,000-260,000 ounces of gold. Gold produced at Kışladağ in 2020 is expected to come from ore stacked in 2019 as well as ore stacked in 2020, consistent with the longer leach cycle. Approximately 12 million tonnes of new ore at an average grade of 1.0 grams per tonne is expected to be placed on the leach pad at Kışladağ. Cash operating costs are estimated to be $450-550 per ounce of gold sold.
Sustaining capital expenditures for 2020 are forecast to be approximately $25-30 million, spent primarily on inter-lift liner, mobile equipment rebuilds and process infrastructure.
Growth capital of $70-80 million includes waste stripping, engineering and costs associated with the HPGR circuit.
The Company recently completed long-cycle heap leach testwork. Results of the testwork indicate that increased leach time at Kışladağ, in conjunction with the replacement of the tertiary crushing circuit with a high-pressure grinding roll (“HPGR”) circuit, increases heap leach life of mine recovery to approximately 56% and extends mine life through 2034.
Kışladağ is a porphyry gold deposit that formed beneath a coeval Miocene volcanic complex in Western Anatolia, Turkey. At least four latite intrusive phases are recognized in the deposit. Alteration consists of a potassic core with K-feldspar, biotite, quartz and locally magnetite, outwardly overprinted by illite, kaolinite, quartz, and tourmaline. Remnants of a quartz-alunite lithocap are found near surface. Gold mineralization occurs within zones of quartz-pyrite stockwork and disseminations. Oxidation extends to a depth of 20 to 80 metres but there is no supergene enrichment. The mineralized intrusions at Kışladağ are enclosed within volcanic and volcaniclastic strata that overlie basement schist and gneiss of the Menderes Massif Core Complex. These strata dip outward from the deposit core, and display rapid facies changes from massive lavas and coarse poorly stratified units proximal to the porphyry centre, to finer well-stratified volcaniclastic strata that interfinger with lacustrine sedimentary rocks in surrounding sedimentary basins.
The Kışladağ deposit was an original discovery made by Eldorado in the late 1990's during a regional grassroots exploration program.