Pervenets&Verninskoye

Pervenets and Verninskoye deposits are located in central part of Bodaibo area of Irkutsk region, some 146 km from the city of Bodaibo and 6 km from Kropotkin settlement. The deposits were discovered in 1974-1985.

Both deposits are located in the central part of Verninskaya anticline. Verninskoye consists of three shallow dipping ore beds with veinlet-impregnated sulfide mineralization, same as in Sukhoi Log deposit. The largest ore bed stretches for 730 m along the strike and for 890 m along the dip. Its thickness varies from 3.8 to 59.8 m. Gold occurs in free metallic state and forms paragenetic bond with silicon and sulfide formations, like pyrite and arsenopyrite.

Pervenets deposit is located 250 m south from Verninskoye and is integrated with it in terms of geology. The deposit is a typical representative of gold and silicon low sulfide formation located in the southern wing of Verninskoye anticline. Two morphologically complicated ore bodies 3 to 21 m thick make up the deposit. The ore bodies contain silicon veinlets, veins and lenses with lean sulfide mineralization consisting mostly of pyrite. Distribution of gold in the ore is uneven and variable.

Pervenets resources and reserves (C1 + C2) total 80 tons of gold; inferred resources (P1+ Р2) – up to 185 tons. Verninskoe total resources and reserves amount 6 tons of gold. These are brown field projects under exploration which will lead to a new resource statement.