Silver King Mines Inc. and Pacific Silver Corp. have signed a letter of agreement with Echo Bay Mines Ltd. to jointly venture six gold properties in Nevada and Colorado.
Silver King and Pacific Silver will have a 60 percent interest in the venture, which becomes effective June 1, and will manage all the properties, said Dan S. Bushnell, chairman of both firms. Echo Bay will have a 40 percent interest.Silver King president Stuart R. Havenstrite said gold production from the combined properties during the next 12 months is expected to total 143,000 ounces and production is expected to rise to 196,000 ounces in the second year and to 217,000 ounces in the third year. He added that the properties have proven and probable minable gold reserves of 960,000 ounces and that there is excellent potential in additional exploration.
Properties involved in the joint venture include Silver King/Pacific Silver's Robinson and Golden Butte mines in eastern Nevada's White Pine County and Echo Bay's Illipah, Easy Junior and Pan mines, also in White Pine County, and its Sunnyside mine near Silverton in southwestern Colorado.
Three of the properties are producing gold and the others are in the development stage and will be brought into production. The largest producer in the group is the Robinson operation, which has been averaging 50,000 ounces of gold per year and, with the addition of a recently announced heap leach program, is expected to increase production to approximately 75,000 ounces this year and to more than 100,000 ounces next year.