February 20 (SeeNews) - Canada's Euro Sun Mining on Wednesday announced positive results of its preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for the exploitation of the Colnic open pit in its Rovina Valley gold and copper project in Romania.
An average annual gold equivalent production of 139,000 ounces is estimated at Colnic open pit, Euro Sun said in a press release.
Euro Sun also estimated average metallurgical recoveries of 82% for gold and 89% copper without utilizing cyanide at the open pit.
"The 2019 PEA highlights a positive economic project for our initial phase of development at the Rovina Valley Project. Colnic is an at surface open pit deposit containing only 28.6% of the total measured and indicated resources at the Rovina Valley Project. Colnic will form the foundation of a multi-decade operation with the expectation of bringing the Rovina pit on-line using pre-installed infrastructure followed by the Ciresata deposit," Euro Sun's CEO Scott Moore said.
The company is applying a staged, multi-phase development approach for the Rovina Valley project.
The project consists of the Colnic and Rovina gold-copper deposits amenable to open-pit development and the Ciresata gold-copper deposit, which is suitable for underground development.
Sequencing for the Rovina open pit and Ciresata underground mine will be undertaken in a separate study at a later date, the company said.
In November, Romania's government approved Euro Sun's license for Rovina Valley.
The project 100%-owned by Euro Sun spreads on an area of 27.68 sq km approximately 300 km northwest of Bucharest. It hosts the second largest gold deposit in Europe, with measured and indicated mineral resources of 10.84 million ounces of gold equivalent, according to the company's own data.
Euro Sun is a Toronto Stock Exchange-listed mining company focused on the exploration and development of the Rovina Valley project. Formerly known as Carpathian Gold, Euro Sun changed its brand identity in September 2016.