Examples of long life narrow vein mines similar to Medusa's Co-O mine:
1. Diwalwal Gold Mine, Mindanao, Philippines. Located some 60 kilometres south of the Co-O Mine is reported to have contained seven million ounces of gold and represents a target type of epithermal vein mineralisation. This is an identical geological setting to the epithermal quartz veins at Medusa's Co-O mine.
Artisanal mining for the past 33 years which is on-going. In 1982, the discovery of gold on this mountain triggered a gold rush to an area of 729 hectares. In the opinion of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), it is ‘the largest gold deposit in the world’. An estimated $1.8 billion worth of gold reserves remain untapped in the 5,000-hectare mountain where some 30,000 small-scale miners operate, many illegally.
2. Vatukoula Gold Mine, Fiji.
Operating for over 75 years, the mine has produced in excess of seven million ounces of gold. A producing gold mine which currently contains 4.1 million ounces of Mineral Resources and 750,000 ounces of Mineral Reserves. Now under Chinese ownership.
3. Norseman Gold Mine, Western Australia.
Australia’s longest continuously running gold mining operation, which produced over 5.5 million ounces of gold over a period of more than 70 years but it's understood to have rarely had more than 2 years reserve life. Recently closed as further mining was considered uneconomic. Located in the highly prospective Norseman-Wiluna greenstone belt in Eastern Gold fields, Western Australia.
MML Price at posting:
82.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
