New fortune for Busang seller<\/p>\n
MELBOURNE (Reuters): The British mining executive who sold the
\nBusang gold property in Indonesia for US$6 million years before
\nthe site was proved a dud said yesterday his company may be
\nsitting on a new bonanza.<\/p>\n
William McLucas, managing director of Perseverance Corp Ltd,
\nwhich produced about 32,000 ounces of gold last year from its
\nFosterville mine in the little-known gold fields of Victoria
\nstate, said exploration at the site has indicated a resource of
\none million ounces exists.<\/p>\n
By the end of the year, the estimate is expected to increase
\nto 1.3 million ounces, McLucas said.<\/p>\n
\"We think we're only at the top branches of the tree,\" McLucas
\ntold Reuters after addressing a mining conference.<\/p>\n
Perseverance spent A$2.3 million on exploration at Fosterville
\nthis year and will spend A$3.4 million in 1998, McLucas said.<\/p>\n
In 1999, once the company taps into a adjacent sulphide
\ndeposit, the annual yield from Fosterville should climb to around
\n90,000 ounces, McLucas said.<\/p>\n
McLucas said it was of little consequence to overseas
\ninvestors that Fosterville was located in Victoria, now better
\nknown for mining of brown coal than gold.<\/p>\n
\"To Europeans, Australia is Australia and that's all that
\nmatters,\" McLucas said.<\/p>\n
In the 19th century, Victorian fields such as those at Bendigo
\nand Ballarat, pioneered the Australian gold industry.<\/p>\n
McLucas sold the Busang property in 1991 to Bre-X Minerals Ltd
\nof Canada through another Australian miner, based on preliminary
\nexploration work.<\/p>\n
McLucas admitted he questioned his own judgment years later
\nwhen major North American mining houses at one stage vied to pay
\nUS$5 billion to merge with Bre-X and gain development rights over
\nBusang.<\/p>\n
But such feelings disappeared after the East Kalimantan
\nprospect was deemed worthless, he said.<\/p>\n
Busang was once thought to contain at least 57 million ounces
\nof gold, based on salted drilling samples, before additional
\ntesting showed so little actual gold existed it was uneconomical
\nto mine.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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