CHICAGO - Coeur d'Alene Mines Corp. said its Coeur Alaska unit had contracted with China National Gold Corp. for the purchase and processing of about half of the concentrates it will shortly begin producing at its Kensington gold mine in Alaska.
The mine is expected to produce 50,000 ounces of gold this year and average approximately 125,000 ounces of annual gold production over an initial 12.5 year life based on current reserves of 1.5 million ounces.
The agreement with China National was described by Coeur executives as the first of its kind between a state-owned corporation in the People's Republic of China and a U.S. precious metals mine.
A spokesman for the company based in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, declined to expand upon the terms of the deal but said it was the result of talks between the two companies. "The terms were negotiated," Tony Ebersole, director of coporate communications said. "I don't know how much detail I can give you. It was something that was reached by both parties."
He added that he could also provide no information on whether agreements had yet been reached on purchase and processing of the other half of the concentrates to be produced by the Kensington gold mine. He noted that Britain's Johnson Matthey plc is among other refiners processing the company's other precious mines in Latin America.
