White River-area mine has legs to expand: Harte Gold feasibility study shows ounces are up, with room to grow.

• Position: MINING

A new technical report released by Harte Gold shows its White River-area mine has enough mineral potential to boost gold production.

The company released a feasibility study on April 8 outlining that its Sugar Zone Mine and mill could expand from an 800-tonne per day processing operation to 1,600-tonnes per day, with gold production jumping from 61,000 ounces annually to 95,000 ounces.

The Sugar Zone Mine is 24 kilometres north of the small community of White River and 80 kilometres east of the Hemlo gold camp.

The company had its first gold pour last October. Commercial production was declared on Jan. 1.

Harte builds the feasibility study off of an updated mineral resource on the property, based on exploration drilling at three identified gold zones - Sugar, Middle and Wolf.

Compared to a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) put out by Harte last year, Sugar Zone tonnages are up 18 per cent and ounces of gold edged up 19 per cent.

For the Middle and Wolf Zones, tonnages are up dramatically at 269 per cent and ounces ballooning 234 per cent.

The base case for the Sugar Zone Mine forecasts a 14-year mine life.

But the company believes it's just the beginning. Only 10 percent of its 83,850-hectare property has been explored.

Indicated resources on all three zones are a combined 1,108,000 ounces with a grade of 8.1 grams per tonne (g/t). The inferred...