PLACER PACIFIC SAYS BIG BELL GOLD STUDY EXPANDING
<Placer Pacific Ltd> said it will
undertake a full feasibility study of Western Australia's Big
Bell gold prospect.
    Results of an economic evaluation of the find, in which
Placer has an option with <Australian Consolidated Minerals
Ltd> (ACM) to earn a 50 pct interest, were encouraging enough
to warrant a full study, Placer said in a statement.
    Big Bell, in the Murchison goldfield 540 km north east of
Perth, was founded in 1904. Between 1937 and 1955 it yielded
22.8 tonnes of gold and 7.8 tonnes of silver while milling
about 30,000 tonnes of ore a month.
    Placer has said the prospect has an estimated 14 mln tonnes
of ore with a three-gram-per-tonne concentration accessible by
open-pit mining and a further 4.5 mln tonnes with a
4.4-gram-a-tonne concentration between 300 and 600 meters
underground.
    It said it was obliged to produce the feasibility study no
later than December 31 this year by which time it would have
spent three mln dlrs on Big Bell.
    If the results are positive and a commitment to develop
made then construction would take about 12 months, Placer said.
 REUTER
