Rubicon first gold pour

The first gold pour from the Phoenix Gold Project. (Image: Rubicon)

A look at some of the mining headlines out this morning that caught my eye.

Rubicon Minerals - (RMX:TSX) - Rubicon is the world's newest high grade gold producer as the Phoenix project in Red Lake, Ontario. First gold pour has been completed of ~741 ounces.

Rubicon has now completed construction at the mill with commissioning of the mill circuit under way. Low grade stockpiled mineralization is being used for the commissioning phase which is expected to be complete in early July.

Following commissioning stoping will begin on the 244 and 305 metre levels. The initial stoping will be very important to watch for shareholders as Rubicon will focus on optimizing the stoping method and establish best stoping practices before increasing tonnage.

"This first pouring of gold is a significant milestone for Rubicon," commented Michael Lalonde, president and chief executive officer of Rubicon. "We would like to thank the Rubicon team for their dedicated effort in reaching this milestone. We would also like to thank our investors and stakeholders for their continued support, as we steward the project towards projected commercial production."

Rubicon 1 year chart

Rubicon has been trading in a fairly tight range in the last couple months as investors awaited production. Investors will want to see the mine reach commercial production on schedule.

The project will be producing gold at an all in sustaining cost of $870 US an ounce according to the PEA by SRK consulting in June 2013. The average grade of the material going to the mill is expected to be 8.1 grams per tonne.

The PEA shows a $423.1  after tax NPV (5%) at $1200 gold with an after tax IRR of 19.1 %.

According to the PEA if everything goes according to plan ~40,000 ounces will produced this year before jumping to ~140,000 ounces next year.

Rubicon stock is likely to get a re-rating from the market when the mine is fully ramped up. I will be following the story and updating readers here at CEO.ca.

Read: Rubicon's Phoenix Gold Project Pours First Gold

Related: Rubicon Minerals: Canada’s next high grade gold producer

Redstar Gold - (RGC:TSXV) - Redstar Gold is off to a good start at the Unga gold project in Alaska hitting high grade gold in all four infill holes released. Eight holes were completed in the program with four more to be released soon.

The third and fourth holes were released this morning.

Highlights

  • High-grade gold/silver mineralization has been encountered in drill hole 15SH013 for four metres grading 11.62 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and 95.6 g/t silver, including one metre grading 20.9 g/t gold and 232 g/t silver and one metre grading 17.45 g/t gold and 122 g/t silver.
  • Drill hole 15SH014 intercepted three metres grading 9.86 g/t gold and eight g/t silver, including one metre grading 19.9 g/t gold and 16.0 g/t silver.
  • High-grade gold and silver mineralization has now been intersected in each of the first four drill holes.

"The success of the infill drill holes corroborates and greatly enhances our understanding of the high-grade mineralization reported by previous operators. This indicates to the company that the mineralization within the historically reported resource area now has a high possibility of becoming a coherent, continuous zone of high-grade mineralization with great potential for expansion. We look forward to seeing the results of the final four holes in the program that targeted areas outside of known mineralization," said Jacques Vaillancourt, executive chairman.

Redstar Gold 3 month chart

Redstar is getting a little bit of traction in the market place since the announcement of the drill program in April.

Investors will eagerly be anticipating the next four holes as these are step out holes.

A more extensive Phase-2 drill program that is planned to occur during Q2/Q3 of 2015 will continue drilling within the Shumagin Gold Zone concurrent with exploration of other known high-grade gold targets located within the Unga Gold Project.

Redstar has a large land package (250 km2) that is 100% owned with at least 12 targets for future exploration.

A preliminary 43-101 resource estimate for Unga is expected in 2015.  In the May presentation RGC states a cash position of  ~$1.4 million.

Read: Redstar Gold Intercepts High-Grade Gold Mineralization in All Four Infill Drill Holes

Related: Redstar Gold starts drilling 1450 metres at Unga Island, Alaska

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