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REGIONAL NEWS - U.S. & CANADA 6 E&MJ; • JUNE 2016 www.e-mj.com Goldcorp Buys Kaminak for its Coffee Gold Project Goldcorp and Kaminak Gold announced a deal in May, in which Goldcorp will ac- quire all of the outstanding shares of Ka- minak in an all-share transaction valued at approximately C$520 million. Closing of the transaction is expected to occur no later than August 15. Kaminak's key asset is its 100% owned Coffee gold project approximate- ly 130 km south of Dawson City, Yukon Territory, Canada. The project is based on a structurally hosted hydrothermal gold deposit. Kaminak reported the results of a positive feasibility study of the project in early January. The study considered development of a high-grade, open-pit, heap-leach min- ing operation, producing a total of 1.86 million oz of gold over a 10-year mine life. Initial capital expenditure to fund construction and commissioning was esti - mated at C$317 million. All-in sustaining cash costs of production were estimated at US$550/oz of gold produced. Mining would be from four open pits mined by conventional shovel and truck methods at a nominal ore mining rate of 5 million mt/y. A total of 312 million mt of material would be mined at a strip ra- tio of 5.7:1 to produce 46.4 million mt of ore. Head grade to the crusher would average 1.45 g/mt gold. Run-of-mine ore would be crushed to a 2-in. feed size and placed on a heap-leach pad. Gold would be extracted from the leachate by an ad- sorption-desorption-recovery (ADR) car- bon plant. Coffee currently has total indicated gold mineral resources of 3 million oz, in- clusive of total probable gold mineral re- serves of 2.2 million oz. The Coffee land package of more than 60,000 ha demon- strates signifcant potential for near-mine discoveries, with mineralization remain- ing open along strike and at depth. Goldcorp's operating assets include four mines in Canada, two mines in Mex- ico, and four in Central and South Ameri- ca. Production attributable to Goldcorp in 2015 totaled 3.46 million oz. Hecla to Purchase Mines Management Hecla Mining has announced a friendly agreement to acquire Mines Manage- ment Inc. in an all-share transaction that values the latter company at about $37 million. Mines Management's key asset is its Montanore silver-copper project in northwest Montana, which hosts in-situ mineralization estimated at more than 230 million oz of silver and nearly 2 bil- lion lb of copper, not considering dilution or subeconomic mineralized zones. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2016. Following closing of the transaction, Hecla intends to advance the evaluation program of Montanore, which is located 10 miles from Hecla's Rock Creek project and 50 miles north of Hecla's Lucky Fri- day mine in Idaho. "Hecla is the logical company to move Montanore forward, with its close proxim- ity to Rock Creek, as well as its similar geology and scale," said Hecla President and CEO Phillips S. Baker. The project has already undergone ex- tensive engineering based on a proposed and initial production capacity of approx- imately 12,500 st/d and estimated pro- duction of 8 million oz/y of silver and 60 million lb/y of copper. The Montanore deposits were discov- ered in the 1980s and explored by previ- ous operators at a cost of more than $100 million, which ceased in the 1990s when metals prices were low. Mines Manage- ment acquired the project in 2002 and has since spent more than $75 million on dewatering and partial rehabilitation of a 14,000-ft decline, construction of site infrastructure, revised and updated resource estimates, and a preliminary economic assessment, as well as reper- mitting the entire project. New Power Agreement Keeps Alcoa's Intalco Smelter Open Alcoa announced in early May a new agreement with the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) that will improve the competitiveness of Alcoa's Intalco primary aluminum smelter in Ferndale, Washington, and allow the plant to re- main open. The amendment to the power contract is effective July 1 through February 14, 2018, and provides for additional access to market power during this period. "This short-term amendment with BPA, combined with the state of Wash- ington's $3 million budget proviso for workforce training, are key factors in helping Intalco remain competitive," the Alcoa announcement said. Kaminak Gold's Coffee land package, shown here, comprises more than 60,000 ha (148,000 acres) with 'signifcant potential for near-mine discoveries,' according to the company. (Photo: Kaminak Gold) (Continued on p. 33)