Masbate Mining located in the municipality of Aroroy, Masbate Province, in the Philippines country. CGA acquired the mine in March 2007 and became the owner and operator of the mine. Philippine Gold Processing & Refining Corp (PGPRC) was the developer and owner the processing plant. In January 2013 B2Gold acquired its interest in the Masbate Mine through our acquisition of CGA. B2Gold corp hold an option to acquire the interest of Zoom and to determine a new Philippine holder of the interest, in accordance with Philippine law.
Gold production in Masbate Mine was 40,368 ounces of gold in the third quarter of 2015, approximately 7% lower compared to the same period last year, with third quarter in 2014 gold production 43,746 ounces. Gold production is expected to increase in the fourth quarter as the Company returns to its planned mining schedule and begins to mine higher grade ore from the main ore body at the Main Vein Stage 1 Pit.
Masbate Mining is projected in 2015 For the full-year, to gold production approximately 170,000 to 180,000 ounces of gold at a cash operating cost of approximately $740 to $775 per ounce.
Gold Deposits In Masbate Mine
The Masbate Gold mine area, covers approximately 150 km2 and is located along a splay of the Pliocene Philippine Fault System associated with several known gold deposits in the Philippines.
The Masbate gold deposits are centred on a northwest-to-southeast mineralised volcanic belt, 5-7km wide, which is bounded by two northwest-trending fault zones, the Pinanaan Fault to the east and the Malubi-Lanang-Balete Fault to the west.
The volcanic belt occurs along the western flank of an earlier diorite intrusive. Gold is associated with the volcanic belt while copper is reported to occur within the diorite intrusive.
The principal host rock to the gold mineralisation is a fractured andesitic-dacitic, tuffaceous agglomerate. Mineralisation occurs in quartz veins within the agglomerate, and also within associated altered and quartz stockworked wall rocks and breccias. The gold is generally finely distributed, with a suggested grain size of 5-20 microns.
The deposit is hosted by Eocene to Pliocene andesites, volcaniclastics and shallow marine clastic rocks cut by late-stage intermediate porphyry. Categorized as a typical low sulphidation epithermal deposit, and gold mineralization is associated with three vein types :
1) calcite-quartz veins/stockworks
2) quartz veins/breccias/stockworks and,
3) quartz-adularia veins/stockworks.
Gold may occur as native element, as tellurides and as inclusions in pyrites. Gold mineralisation is located within quartz veining in the form of fracture filling and silification of the host rock. Sulphides are not abundant but are found within the veins and selvidges. Gold can be associated with the sulphides. The gold is finely distributed (grain size 5 micron to 20 micron).
This 15 km long vein system generally strikes northwest-southeast parallel to the major structural grain in the area with secondary east-west vein systems believed to have formed along dilational structures.
Mining Operation In Masbate Mine Philippines
Mining operation in Masbate mine with open pit mining. The process plant is a conventional carbon-in-leach (CIL) type facility consisting of primary crushing, two-stage grinding, leaching, adsorption and thickening process stages; elution, electrowinning and smelting gold recovery stages; and a cyanide detoxification stage treating process plant tails before disposal in a new tailings storage facility.
Reserves And Resources Masbate Mine
The Mineral Reserve estimates for Masbate mining projects were compiled and verified as of December 31, 2014 under the supervision of Kevin Pemberton, P.E. (Florida, USA), Chief Mine Planning Engineer, and a Qualified Person. Probable mineral reserves estimates in Masbate Mine Philippines 101,910,000 Tonnes with 0.92 Gold grade (g/t)
Indicated mineral resources in Masbate mine 131,240,000 Tonnes for 0.92 Gold grade (g/t) with 3,893,000 Contained Gold Ounces.
Measured and Indicated Resources in mine 131,240,000 Tonnes for 0.92 Gold grade (g/t) with 3,893,000 Contained Gold Ounces
Inferred Mineral Resources 9,780,000 Tonnes for 1.16 Gold grade (g/t) with 366,000 Contained Gold Ounces
Mineral Resource estimates for the Masbate Mine have an effective date of December 31, 2014 and were prepared under the supervision of Tom Garagan, P.Geo., our Senior Vice President of Exploration, and a Qualified Person as defined under NI 43-101. Pursuant to the ore sales and purchase agreement between PGPRC and FRC, our wholly-owned subsidiary, PGPRC has the right to purchase all ore from the Masbate Mine and as such, the Mineral Resources are reported at 100% interest
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