Monument Announces Feasibility Study on Selinsing Gold Mine Project
February 1, 2019 News Release Release #01- 2019
Monument Announces Feasibility Study on Selinsing Gold Mine Project
Vancouver, B.C. Monument Mining Limited (TSX -V: MMY and FSE: D7Q1) (“Monument” or the “Company”)
is pleased to announce the results of a positive feasibility study (FS) on its 100%-owned Selinsing Gold Mine in
Pahang State, Malaysia, including the Selinsing deposit, and the adjacent Felda and Buffalo Reef deposits
(“Selinsing Gold Mine Project”) . The FS establishes the economic viability of the project for a six year life of
mine through the extension of the existing oxide plant to incorporate additional sulphide ore extraction.
President and CEO Cathy Zhai commented, “We are excited to see the FS coming out supporting an additional six
years life of mine with economic viability, which gives a green light to fund the conversion of the Selinsing Gold
Plant to treat sulphide ore. The report has also analyzed opportunity to further improve production and potentially
increase gold inventories in the future. While an execution plan is in place to start up construction of the Selinsing
Gold plant upgrade, we continue to optimize the economic outcomes.”
The economic viability of the project described in the FS is primarily driven by adding flotation and BIOX®
processes to the current Seli nsing Gold Processing Plant to treat sulphide ore. The FS has focused on
metallurgical testwork, metallurgical processing design and Front-End Engineering Design, along with geological
review and mine planning studies. To sustain the Selinsing Gold Mine production from oxide through to sulphide
ore operations, previously a NI 43-101 pre -feasibility study on the Selinsing Gold Sulphide Processing Project
was filed in December 2016 (“Snowden 2016 TR ”), supporting a bio-leaching processes to economically treat
sulphide materials. The FS was initiated in May 2017 to demonstrate that the BIOX ® sulphide treatment
technology is the most preferred bio -leaching method to achieve best economic outcomes at the Selinsing Gold
Mine. A complete NI 43-101 Technical Report titled “Selinsing Gold Sulphide Project - NI 43 -101 Technical
Report” (Snowden 2019 TR) was filed on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) on January 31, 2019, describing the mineral
exploration, development, and production area of the Selinsing Gold Mine. It was prepared in accordance with
National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects and is authored by Frank Blanchfield,
BE (Min Eng), FAusIMM, Principal Mining Engineer, Snowden Mining Industry Consultants Pty Ltd (Snowden),
the primary Q ualified Person, and other independent Qualified Persons for geology, metallurgy and for
engineering and costs.
Mineral Resources and Reserves Update
The updated sulphide and oxide Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves in the Snowden 2019 TR are estimated
with consideration of mining and stockpile depletions to March 2018, using the r esource model from the 2016
estimate as a basis, however revised reporting of the Mineral Resource has resul ted in a significant increase from
Snowden 2016 TR, due to changes in reporting cut-off grades for transition and sulphide Mineral Resources from
0.7 g/t Au to 0.5 g/t Au and revised pit optimizations which are used to limit the reported Mineral Resource. A
map showing the area locations is as follows (Figure 1):
Figure 1. Location Map of Selinsing and Buffalo Reef Properties
A significant increase of 48 koz or 24% for Indicated Resources and 45 koz or 69% for Inferred Resource can be
observed for the Selinsing deposit, in relation to the previous Snowden 2016 PFS. For the Buffalo Reef deposit,
Indicated Resources have decreased 4 koz or 2%, and Inferred Resources increased 31 koz or 15%.
The Mineral Reserves were updated in March 2018, and comprise 235 koz of gold from 3,919 kilotonnes (kt) of
ore at a diluted grade of 1.86 grams of gold per tonne (g/t) from the Selinsing and Buffalo Reef/Felda deposits
(Table 1), along with a further 21 koz of gold from 1,312 kt of ore from stockpiles at a grade of 0.51 g/t Au (Table
2), plus 12 koz of gold from 508 kt of ore from old tailings (Table 3).
The updated Mineral Reserves are estimated using an average gold price of US$1,300 per ounce. To identify the
Selinsing and Buffalo Reef Mineral Reserve, a process of optimisation using the Deswik Pseudo Flow, stag ed pit
design, production scheduling and mine cost modelling was undertaken by Monument. Recent review of and new
metallurgical testwork for processing has indicated treatment of transition and fresh ores by flotation and then bio
oxidation BIOX® followed by carbon-in-leach (CIL).
Table 1 Mineral Reserves from deposits as at 31 March 2018
Classification Oxidation Zone Approximate Tonnes Au Ounces
cut-off (g/t Au) (kt) (g/t) (koz)
Probable
Oxide
Selinsing 0.4 51 0.66 1.1
BRN 0.4 80 1.14 3
BRC 0.4 77 0.9 2.2
Felda 0.4 233 1.34 10
BRS 0.4 41 0.93 1.2
Oxide – Total 483 1.13 17.5
Transitional
Selinsing 0.75 43 1.61 2.2
BRN 0.75 73 1.31 3.1
BRC 0.75 171 1.11 6.1
Felda 0.75 171 1.66 9.1
BRS 0.75 299 2.23 21.4
Transitional – Total 757 1.72 41.9
Fresh
Selinsing 0.75 578 2.28 42.4
BRN 0.75 13 1.31 0.6
BRC 0.75 699 1.78 40
Felda 0.75 476 1.79 27.5
BRS 0.75 913 2.21 64.8
Fresh – Total 2,680 2.03 175.1
PROBABLE – TOTAL 3,919 1.86 234.6
Notes: Tonnes and ounces have been rounded and this may have resulted in minor discrepancies.
Table 2 Stockpile Proven Mineral Reserves, as at end of March 2018
Stockpile name Stockpile ID lcm Tonnes (kt) Au (g/t) Ounces (koz)
Oxide Stockpiles
High Grade 1 (Oxide) SEL HG1 O - - - -
Low Grade 1 (Oxide) SEL LG1 O 6,081 12 1.1 0.4
Low Grade 2 (Oxide) SEL LG2 O 3,189 6 0.73 0.2
Super Low Grade 1 (Oxide) SEL SLG1 O 2,191 4 0.44 0.1
Super Low Grade 2 (Oxide) SEL SLG2 O 72,179 991 0.43 13.9
Super Low Grade 4 (Oxide) SEL SLG 4 36,293 78 0.5 1.3
BR High Grade 1 (Oxide) BR HG1 O 566 1 3.28 0.1
BR Low Grade 1 (Oxide) BR LG1 O 928 2 1.02 0.1
BR Super Low Grade 1 (Oxide) BR SLG1 O 84,030 168 0.55 3
B7 High Grade 1 (Oxide) B7 HG1 O 1,767 3 2.12 0.2
B7 Low Grade 1 (Oxide) B7 LG1 O 77 0.13 1.02 0.01
B7 Super Low Grade 1 (Oxide) B7 SLG1 O 449 0.73 0.69 0.01
Oxide – Total 607,750 1,265 0.47 19.1
Leachable Sulphide Stockpiles
High Grade 1 (Leachable Sulphide) SEL HG1 S - - - -
Low Grade 1 (Leachable Sulphide) SEL LG1 S - - - -
BR High Grade 1 (Leachable Sulphide) BR HG1 S 879 1.776 1.86 0.1
BR Low Grade 1 (Leachable Sulphide) BR LG1 S 1237 2.499 0.97 0.1
High Grade 2 (Leachable Sulphide) SEL HG2 S - - - -
Low Grade 3 (Leachable Sulphide) SEL LG3 S 213 0.46 0.68 0.01
Low Grade 4 (Leachable Sulphide) SEL LG4 S - - - -
BR High Grade 2 (Leachable Sulphide) BR HG2 S 5186 11.399 2.72 1
BR Super Low Grade 1 (Leachable Sulphide) BR SLG1 S 2145 4.333 0.55 0.1
B7 High Grade 1 (Leachable Sulphide) B7 HG1 S - - - -
B7 Low Grade 1 (Leachable Sulphide) B7 LG1 S - - - -
B7 Super Low Grade 1 (Leachable Sulphide) B7 SLG1 S - - - -
Leachable Sulphide – Total 9,660 20.5 1.92 1.3
Non-Leachable Sulphide Stockpiles 0 0 0
BR Low Grade 2 (Non-Leachable Sulphide) BR LG2 S 11570 23.115 1.25 0.9
Super Low Grade 3 (Non-Leachable Sulphide) SEL SLG3 S 748 1.511 0.6 0.03
B7 High Grade 2 (Non-Leachable Sulphide) B7 HG2 S - - - -
B7 Low Grade 2 (Non-Leachable Sulphide) B7 LG2 S - - - -
Non-Leachable Sulphide – Total 12318 24.626 1.21 0.9
GRAND TOTAL 630,000 1,312 0.51 21.3
Note: All stockpiles classified as Proven Mineral Reserves; lcm = loose cubic metres; SLG = super low grade (0.30 –0.75 g/t
Au); LG = low grade (0.75–1.50 g/t Au); HG = high grade (1.50–3.50 g/t Au).
Table 3 Old Tailings Mineral Reserves as at 31 March 2018
Classification Volume (m3 in-situ) Tonnes (kt) Au (g/t) Ounces (koz)
Probable 353,000 508 0.71 12
The Probable Mineral Reserves are within the updated Indicated Resources as reported under the Mineral
Resources section of the Feasibility Study . The Proven Mineral Reserves comprise entirely of the Measured
Mineral Resources from stockpiles.
The Mineral Resources were updated as of March 31, 2018, as shown in Table 4 for Selinsing and include
Indicated Resources of 248 koz of gold from 5,171 kt of material at a grade of 1.49 g/t Au, and Inferred Resource
of 110 koz of gold from 1,691 kt of material at a grade of 2.02 g/t Au; and Table 5 for Buffalo Reef/Felda ,
including Indicated Resources of 238 koz of gold from 4,525 kt of material at a grade of 1.63 g/t Au, and Inferred
Resource of 241 koz of gold from 4,706 kt of material at a grade of 1.59 g/t Au . Additionally, old tailing s
Indicated Mineral Resources as shown in Table 6, with 24 koz of gold from 975 kt of Inferred Mineral Resources
at a grade of 0.75g/t Au.
Estimated Mineral Resources were limited to within a pit shell run based on a long -term gold price potential of
US$2,400/oz gold price.
Table 4 Selinsing Mineral Resource statement for Selinsing deposit, inclusive of Mineral Reserves, depleted
for mining to end of March 2018
Classification Oxidation Cut-off (g/t Au) Tonnes (kt) Au (g/t) S (%) Ounces (koz Au)
Indicated
Oxide 0.3 64 0.62 0.03 1
Transitional 0.5 100 1.16 0.38 4
Fresh 0.5 5,007 1.51 0.47 243
Indicated – Total 5,171 1.49 0.46 248
Inferred
Oxide 0.3 8 0.98 0.03 0.3
Transitional 0.5 3 1.14 0.17 0.1
Fresh 0.5 1,680 2.02 0.52 109
Inferred – Total
1,691 2.02 0.51 110
Notes: Small discrepancies may occur due to rounding. The classification applies to the Au grades only; S grades are
considered indicative only. Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have d emonstrated economic viability.
Table 5 Buffalo Reef/Felda Mineral Resource statement for Buffalo Reef deposit , inclusive of Mineral
Reserves, depleted for mining to end of March 2018
Classification Oxidation Zone Cut-off Tonnes Au As Sb S Ounces
(g/t Au) (kt) (g/t) (ppm) (ppm) (%) (koz)
Indicated
Oxide
BRN 0.3 121 0.97 1,843 185 0.35 4
BRC 0.3 158 0.81 1,565 141 0.5 4
Felda 0.3 160 1.11 2,273 232 0.08 6
BRS 0.3 55 2.06 3,076 837 0.15 4
Oxide – Total 494 1.08 2,031 258 0.29 18
Transitional
BRN 0.5 151 1.16 2,132 196 0.57 6
BRC 0.5 382 1.06 2,167 96 0.4 13
Felda 0.5 219 1.48 2,776 291 0.33 10
BRS 0.5 234 2.57 2,895 3,143 0.59 19
Transitional – Total 986 1.53 2,470 878 0.45 48
Fresh
BRN 0.5 86 1.05 2,122 83 0.71 3
BRC 0.5 1,106 1.56 3,157 1,796 0.88 55
Felda 0.5 686 1.66 2,711 878 0.71 37
BRS 0.5 1,167 2.06 2,732 1,111 0.87 77
Fresh – Total 3,045 1.76 2,864 1,278 0.83 172
INDICATED – TOTAL 4,525 1.63 2,687 1,080 0.69 238
Inferred
Oxide
BRN 0.3 72 0.87 1,646 89 0.1 2
BRC 0.3 114 1.1 1,459 60 0.2 4
Felda 0.3 66 1.03 1,424 141 0.31 2
BRS 0.3 89 1.14 1,296 180 0.05 3
Oxide – Total 341 1.05 1,453 113 0.16 11
Transitional
BRN 0.5 127 1.12 1,854 88 0.72 5
BRC 0.5 179 1.18 1,891 156 0.28 7
Felda 0.5 68 1.24 1,731 143 0.46 3
BRS 0.5 108 1.37 1,708 673 0.49 5
Transitional – Total 482 1.22 1,818 252 0.47 20
Fresh
BRN 0.5 102 1.18 2,761 52 0.71 4
BRC 0.5 1,851 1.71 2,592 1,708 0.87 102
Felda 0.5 1,263 1.8 3,104 1,066 0.82 73
BRS 0.5 668 1.46 2,353 516 0.54 31
Fresh – Total 3,883 1.68 2,722 1,251 0.8 210
INFERRED – TOTAL 4,706 1.59 2,537 1,066 0.72 241
Notes: Small discrepancies may occur due to rounding. The classification applies to the Au grades only; As , Sb and S grades
are considered indicative only. Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic
viability.
Table 6 Selinsing Old Tailings Mineral Resource, inclusive of Mineral Reserves, depleted for reclaiming to
end of March 2018
Classification Cut-off (g/t Au) Tonnes (kt) Au (g/t) Ounces (koz Au)
Indicated Total 0.3 975 0.75 24
Notes: Small discrepancies may occur due to rounding.
Economic Evaluation
Economic viability has been demonstrate d for approximately six years of life of mine (LOM) with an NPV of
US$27.56 million based on reported oxide and sulphide ore reserves as of March 2018. Over the six-year LOM, a
total 5.7 million tonnage of ore would be treated at an average grade of 1.45g/t for 223 koz at US$863.67/oz. At a
gold price of US$1,300 per ounce, the Selinsing Gold Mine Project would generate net cash flow after tax of
US$97 million from operations, or US$45 million net of capital expenditure. Sensitivities show that the project
can with stand well over a 35% increase in costs but is sensitive to gold price (US$1,100/oz breakeven) and
process recovery (70% breakeven).
The above economic evaluation does not include I nferred Mineral Resources. Currently (i) The Inferred Mineral
Resource inside the Reserve open pit designs contains an additional 20 koz of gold; (ii) Inferred Mineral Resource
external to the open pit design contains 130 koz of gold. Recommendations have been suggested to initiate
further exploration programs, aimed on conversion of Inferred Mineral Resources to Indicated Mineral Resources.
Should those conversions be successful, the Mineral Reserves could potentially be significantly increased.
The Selinsing Gold Mine has a proven record in converting oxide Inferred Mineral Resources to recovered ounces
in its 10-year production history, although the previous production history may not be used as an indicator for
future production.
Other Discussions
Detailed studies were carried out in many areas as part of the FS. With the geological and mine planning detail s
largely unchanged from the Snowden 2016 TR, most of the detailed work has been associated with the
metallurgical study and evaluation as well as plant design and construction. This work demonstrated the
feasibility of a plant capable to process the sulphi de ores at Selinsing using flotation and BIOX ® additions to the
existing plant. The study work includes enough detail to proceed to final plant design stages.
The updated Mineral Resource estimate includes results from a total of 1,737 holes for 154,217 m
(predominantly diamond and RC drilling ) at the Selinsing and Buffalo Reef deposits, with assays received up to
February 24, 2016. This drilling was previously used for the Au, Sb and As estimation for the 2016 resource
model in the Snowden 2016 TR. An additional 6,342 m of drilling was included for sulphur estimation. Those
additional drill results come from exploration work continued at Selinsing and Buffalo Reef after June 2016 to
define mineralization at depth below the existing pits, within gap zone s in between the known resources that
contain little drill hole information, and to convert I nferred Mineral Resources to Indicated and/or M easured
Mineral Resources.
Most of the additional drilling at Buffalo Reef comprised of diamond core metallurgical drilling (3,401 m or 60%
of the total additional). The remaining 2,293 m of additional infill and extensional drilling at Buffalo Reef do not
materially impact the global resource with respect to the gold grade estimates, which remain unchang ed. At
Selinsing, the additional drilling since 2016 comprised of 648 m and has confirmed the continuity of a high-grade
zone beneath the Pit IV.
The majority of drillholes have been accurately collar surveyed and most of the diamond holes have been
surveyed downhole. Sample recovery for diamond drilling conducted by Monument at both Selinsing and Buffalo
Reef is considered good and provide s suitable samples suitable for resource estimation. Half core diamo nd
samples and riffle split RC samples formed the bulk of the samples used in the resource modelling.
Most samples were analysed for gold, arsenic, silver and antimony. Gold was analysed primarily by fire assay
using a 50 g charge with an atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) finish. The RC and diamond drilling
completed by Monument after 2007 includes independent QAQC samples with the sample batches, the results of
which show reasonable precision and analytical accuracy have been achieved. Assay data in the database has been
verified by Snowden with a random selection of original lab reports, with no major discrepancies identified.
The drillhole logging and assay data was used as the main basis for the geological interpretation. The gold
mineralisation was interpreted on 20 m spaced east -west sections as a series of wireframe solids, based on a
nominal threshold of 0.15 g/t Au along with the geological logging. The drillhole data was composited downhole
prior to running the estimation process using a 1.5 m compositing interval to minimize any bias due to sample
length.
Variograms have been model led and the gold grade estimated by o rdinary kriging, with top- cuts as appropriate ,
for the Buffalo Reef/Felda deposits, whereas for the Selinsing deposit, due to the strongly skewed nature of the
gold grades, multiple indicator kriging (MIK) was used to estimate the block gold grades. A parent block size of
10 mE by 20 mN by 2.5 mRL was used to construct a block model for the Selinsing deposit, whereas an 8 mE by
20 mN by 2.5 mRL parent block size was used for the Buffalo Reef/Felda deposit. A slightly smaller block size of
8 mE was selected for Buffalo Reef due to the more selective na ture of the geological interpretation and to ensure
reasonable volume resolution. A three -pass search strategy was utilized for all grade estimates with the same
search neighbourhood parameters applied to all domains. Due to the poor coverage of sulphur as say data,
variograms showed very poor quality and the decision was made to estimate the sulphur grade using inverse
distance squared (ID2).
Over 2,600 bulk density measurements were taken by Monument in the Selinsing and Buffalo Reef/Felda deposits
using the Archimedes Principle, with wax-coating used to account for the porosity. Default bulk density values
were assigned to the model blocks based on the oxidation state, separately for waste and mineralised zones.
The Mineral Resource estimate has be en validated against the input samples and classified as a combination of
Indicated and Inferred Resources in accordance with CIM guidelines . The Mineral Resources have been depleted
for all mining as at the end of March 2018.
Snowden has verified the dril l hole data used to support the technical and scientific information in this news
release, including the sampling, sample security, analytical techniques, original assay certificates, and Quality
Assurance/Quality Control procedures and has determined that CIM and NI 43-101 Industry Standards have been
sufficiently followed. Snowden constructed a 3D model of the mineralized bodies using modeling software and
estimated the June 30, 2016 Selinsing and Buffalo Reef/Felda in situ Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves.
Mineral Reserves for the stockpiles, based on end of month surveyed volumes and grade control during mining
informing the grade, at the Selinsing Project (including ore mined from the Selinsing and Buffalo Reef pits), as at
the end of March 2018, are summarized in Table 2. The stockpile resources are classified as Measured Mineral
Resources in their entirety with a 100% conversion of the stockpile Measured Mineral Resources to Proven
Mineral Reserve s.; A significant deposit of O ld Tailings is located within the property. Old Tailings at the
Selinsing project include the balance of the old tailings dam located next to Selinsing Pit V and Pit VI. Most of
the current tailing material originated from the oxide mining operation by the local oper ator, Tshu Lian Seng
Mining from 1987 until the operation ceased in late 1995. There are small amounts of tailings deposited from the
Underground mining in the early 20th century but boundaries from underground tailing s and tailings from the
oxide operation are not clearly discernible.
A total of 201 holes totalling 1,503 m drilling assayed for gold were available and used for estimating the grades
in the blocks coded as tailings in the Selinsing Resource block model. The blocks coded previously as tailings in
the Selinsing block model were now estimated for gold with a simple Inverse of Square Distance (ISD) method,
from 1.5 m composite samples originated from raw intervals located inside the reference wireframe.
The Mineral Resources contained in the Old Tailings at the Selinsing Project are classified as Indicated Resources
in accordance with CIM guidelines.