Project Overview
The Bisha Project is a large precious and base metal-rich volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposit located 150km west of Asmara, Eritrea, East Africa. Deposit mineralization consists of gold and silver oxides, in addition to copper and zinc massive sulphides.
Nevsun is currently focused on the rapid completion of the Bisha Mine, which began construction in September 2008. The Mine is expected to go into production in late 2010, and be a low-cost gold producer for the first two years, and a high-grade copper concentrate and zinc producer for the remaining mine life. Bisha's Feasibility Study estimates a 10-year mine life with metal prices conservatively based on $435/oz gold, $1.44/lb copper for the first 5 years ($1.28/lb thereafter), $0.57/lb zinc and $6.50/oz silver. The Bisha mine is expected to produce gold at an operating cost of less than $250/oz, with copper operating costs ranging from $0.54-$0.67/lb, and zinc operating costs at $0.50/lb (including all royalties and credits).
The Bisha Mine is expected to produce 1.06 million ounces of gold, 9.4 million ounces of silver, 734 million pounds of copper, and over one billion pounds of zinc. For a full production schedule, please refer to our Corporate Presentation.
Bisha's mining and exploration licenses cover a contiguous area of 110 km2. The Bisha Main and North West zone are both located within the 16.5 km2 mining license. Nevsun, through its Eritrean subsidiary, Bisha Mining Share Company (BMSC), holds the Licenses.
Under existing Eritrean mining legislation, the State of Eritrea has an automatic right to a free carried 10% interest and under an agreement with Nevsun has an additional 30% paid participating interest. This 30% contributing interest was agreed upon in October 2007, with a provisional $25M payment made to Nevsun; the remaining balance to be paid to Nevsun will be determined by an independent valuator and shall be based on the net present value of 30% of the project, as evaluated upon the first shipment of gold from the mine.
Proven and Probable Mineral Reserves
| Ore Type | Tonnage (kt) |
Au (g/t) |
Ag (g/t) |
Cu (%) |
Zn (%) |
| Oxide | |||||
| Proven | 663 | 6.87 | 28.93 | - | - |
| Probable | 3,353 | 8.21 | 33.62 | - | - |
| Combined Proven & Probable | 4,016 | 7.99 | 32.85 | - | - |
| Supergene | |||||
| Proven | 808 | 0.81 | 44.74 | 5.10 | - |
| Probable | 5,542 | 0.83 | 34.71 | 4.30 | - |
| Combined Proven & Probable | 6,350 | 0.83 | 35.98 | 4.40 | - |
| Primary | |||||
| Proven | 353 | 0.82 | 65.56 | 1.10 | 11.38 |
| Probable | 9,360 | 0.76 | 53.57 | 1.15 | 7.05 |
| Combined Proven & Probable | 9,713 | 0.76 | 54.00 | 1.14 | 7.21 |
| Total Combined Proven & Probable | 20,079 | ||||
Production Schedule
| Year |
|
Total Production | ||||||||||||
| Oxides | Supergene | Primary | ||||||||||||
| Oxide Processing | ||||||||||||||
| Gold | 900,000 oz | 80,000 oz | 80,000 oz | 1,060,000 oz | ||||||||||
| Silver | 1,535,000 oz | 3,040,000 oz | 4,690,000 oz | 9,265,000 oz | ||||||||||
| Sulphide Processing | ||||||||||||||
| Copper | 538,000,000 lbs | 196,000,000 lbs | 734,000,000 lbs | |||||||||||
| Zinc | 1,075,000,000 lbs | 1,075,000,000 lbs | ||||||||||||
