Wednesday, 8th December 2004 (5560 views)

Canada based Placer Dome has announced it is forming a new company, which will look into the possibility of mining gold from the bottom of the ocean.

Placer Dome Oceania would explore the depths of the world's oceans for metals and will at first focus on two areas in the Bismarck Sea off of Papua New Guinea.

Brad Gordon, the head of Placer's PNG operations, explained to Dow Jones: "It will be a world first for PNG."

The company will target seafloor massive sulfide deposits in particular, and those that are located at depths of two to three kilometres and contain various minerals.

In particular, the company is interested in zones in the western Pacific where there are high-grade gold, silver, zinc and copper systems.

A $3 million geophysical data-acquisition programme is to begin in January next year.

 

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