Called GJ, the ground lies about 30km west of Red Chris and contains resources understood to total about 240 million tonnes grading 0.31 grams per tonne gold and about 0.23% copper, with a higher grade gold zone of about 50Mt at around 0.7gpt gold and 0.11% copper.
That compares with resources at the Newcrest's 70%-owned Red Chris operation that are estimated to total about 1.7 billion tonnes grading about 0.33gpt gold and 0.33% copper.
Newcrest's focus at Red Chris is optimising the already established operation, with the ultimate plan being to bring its block caving expertise to bear for a transformational development.
Newcrest's sees geological and operating analogies between Red Chris with its Cadia ground in New South Wales.
