Lachlan Star targets gold resource growth with added copper during 2012 in Chile

Lachlan Star (ASX: LSA) has the capacity to ramp-up gold production at the already producing CMD Gold mine in Chile, with this being one of the company's main objectives during 2012.

Mick McMullen, executive chairman, told Proactive Investors today, that 2012 goals include defining a much larger resource base which will comprise a greater proportion of Indicated Resources and less Inferred Resources, which can then be used for Reserve reporting - which will then underpin a larger scale operation.

"(We plan) to commence the Run of Mine Dump leaching and fill the crushing plant.

"Currently we are crushing at about 3.8 Mtpa rate, we want to be crushing at 6 Mtpa rate by end of 2012, plus direct dumping another 8 Mtpa to 10Mtpa of lower grade ore on the pads."

Another objective is to define the copper mineralisation on the boundary with Teck Resources' (NYSE: TCK) massive Andacollo mine, which hosts resources of; 535 million tonnes at 0.37% copper and 0.12 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, highlighting the copper potential upside at the project.

McMullen added that drilling will continue at speed, 'we think there is potential for multi million ounces still to be found, which will further underpin a larger scale operation, which in turn drives unit costs down."


CMD Gold Mine

The CMD Mine currently hosts an Indicated Resource of 37.6 million tonnes at 0.6% for 725,000 gold ounces, along with 49.8 million tonnes at 0.6% for 923,000 gold ounces.

Originally published at: http://www.proactiveinvestors.com.au/companies/news/24330/lachlan-star-targets-gold-resource-growth-with-added-copper-during-2012-in-chile-24330.html