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This mine is situated in the mountainous area east of Savannakhet in the southern part of the country. A
detailed description of the mining operation can be found on the Oxiana webpage (see link below). The present text is
mainly based on this web page and the photos have been downloaded with
permission from Oxiana.
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The plant at Sepon
gold mine
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The recently discovered
gold and copper deposits of the Sepon district
contain 3.5 million ounces of gold and 1.2 million tonnes
of copper in six separate adjacent deposits. The gold occurs as fine
dissemination in highly altered calcareous sedimentary rocks with many
affinities to the Carlin style gold deposits of Nevada,
USA.
The sedimentary rocks were intruded by porphyries. Surrounding the intrusive
rocks is a hydrothermal alteration zone with high grade of copper and gold.
Late supergene alteration produced high-grade gold
cap.
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Schematic
model of mineralisation styles in the Sepon Mineral District (after Sillitoe
1990). With permission from Oxiana.
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The Sepon
gold deposit contain 3.5 g/t of gold and 5.6 g/t
silver in an estimated 14 million tonnes of ore.
The gold mine and plant was constructed in 2002 and the first gold was poured
January 2003. The same hydrothermal system, which yielded the gold mineralisation, gave rise to a large copper ore body. Oxiana will reportedly start mining copper early 2005
(see this web page for further information.
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Sepon Project Ore Reserves of Summary
for the three months ending 31 Mach
2007
(from Oxiana Magazine Quarterly Report )
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Category
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Mar Qtr 2007
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Gold produced at Sepon
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33,647 oz
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Gold produced at Sepon Grove
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12,751 oz
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Silver produced at Sepon
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60,225 oz
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Silver produced at Sepon Grove
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511,167 oz
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Average received gold price
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US$ 651/oz
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Copper produced at Sepon
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13,827 t
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Copper produced at Sepon Grove
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7,297 t
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Average LME cash Copper price
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US$ 2.61 / lb
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Zinc produced at Sepon Grove
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24,514 t
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Average LME cash price
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US$ 1.57 / lb
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Gold pouring at Sepon mine February 2003. From Oxiana
web page.
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Click here
for the Oxiana webpages
on the Sepon gold mine.
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