Barrick and Kinross to Develop Gold and Copper Project in Chile

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE:ABX) (Toronto, Ontario) and Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE:KGC) (Toronto) are conducting preliminary design evaluation for the development of the Cerro Casale gold project in Chile, which has an investment cost of about $2.5 billion.

Cerro Casale is located about 115 kilometers southeast of Copiapo, in the region of Atacama in northern Chile. The project entails the construction of a 75,000-ton-per-day open-pit mine and processing plant to produce 234,000 ounces per year of gold and 31,000 tons per year of copper over a mine life of about 18 years. Construction will start in 2010, with project completion set for the fourth quarter of 2011. Amec International S. A. (Santiago, Chile) is performing engineering services for the project.

The Cerro Casale deposit, discovered in 1996, holds reserves of 23 million ounces of gold and 6 billion pounds of copper and is reputedly one of the largest undeveloped gold and copper deposits in the world. Barrick gained control of 51% of the project with the acquisition of Arizona Star Resources Corporation (Toronto) in October 2007. Kinross acquired its 49% interest in the Cerro Casale deposit in February 2007 through its acquisition of Bema Gold Corporation (Vancouver, British Columbia). The companies operate the Cerro Casale project through Compania Minera Casale (Copiapo, Chile).

In Chile, Barrick Gold operates the Zaldivar copper mine and is developing the Pascua Lama project on the border of Chile and Argentina. Kinross operates the La Coipa copper and silver mine and the Refugio gold mine.

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