The geology of the Casino deposit is typical of many porphyry copper deposits. The deposit is centered on an Upper Cretaceous-age, east-west elongated tonalite porphyry stock that intrudes Mesozoic granitoids of the Dawson Range Batholith and Paleozoic schists and gneisses of the Yukon Crystalline Complex. Intrusion of the tonalite stock into the older rocks caused brecciation of both the intrusive and the surrounding country rocks along the northern, southern and eastern contact of the stock. Brecciation is best developed in the eastern end of the stock where the breccia can be up to 400 metres wide in plan view. To the west, along the north and south contact, the breccias narrow gradually to less than 100 metres. Little drilling has been done at the western end of the tonalite stock and it is not known if the breccia is present along this contact. Intruded into the tonalite stock and surrounding granitods and metamorphic rocks are younger, non-mineralized dykes of similar composition to the older tonalite stock and a late diatreme, which forms both pipe-like body in the west and a dyke-like body in the east. The overall dimensions of the intrusive complex are approximately 1.8 by 1.0 kilometres.

Primary copper, gold and molybdenum mineralization was deposited from hydrothermal fluids that exploited the contact breccias and fractured wall rocks. Better grades occur in the breccias and gradually decrease outwards away from the contact zone both towards the centre of the stock and outward into the granitoids and schists. The main mineralization types are:

• Leached Cap Mineralization (CAP) – This oxide gold zone is gold-enriched and copper-depleted due to supergene alteration processes as well as the lower specific gravity of this zone relative to the other supergene zones. Weathering has replaced most minerals with clay. The weathering is most intense at the surface and decreases with depth.
• Supergene Oxide Mineralization (SOX) – This zone is copper-enriched, with trace molybdenite. It generally occurs as a thin layer above the Supergene Sulphide zone. Where present, the supergene oxide zone averages 10 metres thick, and can contain chalcanthite, malachite and brocanthite, with minor azurite, tenorite, cuprite and neotocite.
• Supergene Sulphide Mineralization (SUS) – supergene copper mineralization occurs in an up to 200 metre-deep weathered zone below the leached cap and above the hypogene. It has an average thickness of 60 metres. Grades of the Supergene sulphide zone vary widely, but are highest in fractured and highly pyritic zones, due to their ability to promote leaching and chalcocite precipitation. The copper grades in the Supergene Sulphide zone are almost double the copper grades in the Hypogene (0.43% Cu versus 0.23% Cu).
• Hypogene Mineralization – Hypogene mineralization occurs throughout the various alteration zones of the Casino Porphyry deposit, as mineralized stock-work veins and breccias. Significant Cu-Mo mineralization is related to the potassically-altered breccia surrounding the core Patton Porphyry, as well as in the adjacent phyllically-altered host rocks of the Dawson Range Batholith. The pyrite halo in this mineralization is host to the highest Cu values on the property.

Native gold can occur as free grains in quartz (50 to 70 microns) and as inclusions in pyrite and/or chalcopyrite grains (1 to 15 microns). High grade smoky quartz veins with numerous specks of visible gold are also reported to exist.

Casino is proposing a conventional open-pit, truck and shovel operation.

Five mining phases were also developed for the study. The phase designs include haul roads and adequate working room for large mining equipment. The roads are 36m wide at a maximum grade of 10%. The width will accommodate trucks up to the 360 tonne class, such as the Caterpillar 797F truck.

The Casino process plant will consist of two processing facilities, one for sulphide ore and one for oxide ore.

The sulphide ore processing facility will produce mineral concentrates of copper and molybdenum using conventional flotation technology. The copper concentrate will be dewatered and transported as a filtered cake by highway trucks. The molybdenum concentrate will be dewatered and packaged in super sacks for transport. Gold and silver contained in the sulphide ore will be recovered as a fraction of the copper concentrate.

The oxide ore processing facility will produce gold and silver Doré bars via heap leach and carbon adsorption technology. Copper contained in the oxide ore will be recovered as a copper sulphide precipitate using SART technology.

SULPHIDE ORE PROCESS PLANT DESCRIPTION
The following items summarize the process operations required to extract copper and molybdenum from the sulphide ore:

• Size reduction of the run-of-mine (ROM) to minus 200 mm.
• Stockpiling primary crushed ore and then reclaiming with feeders and a belt conveyor.
• Size reduction of the ore in a semi-autogenous (SAG) mill - ball mill grinding circuit with pebble crushing.
• Concentration and separation of the copper and molybdenum sulphide minerals by froth flotation to produce a bulk (copper/molybdenum) concentrate.
• Separation of the bulk concentrate into separate copper and molybdenum concentrates.
• Final copper concentrate will be thickened, filtered, and loaded in highway haul trucks for shipment.
• Final molybdenum concentrate will be filtered, dried, and packaged in bags for shipment.
• Concentration of the bulk flotation tailing in a pyrite flotation circuit. Pyrite flotation circuit tailing will have a low sulphide sulfur concentration.
• Subaqueous deposition of the pyrite concentrate in the tailing storage facility.
• Flotation tailing will be thickened and transported by a gravity pipeline to a tailing impoundment area. The tailing will be cycloned with underflow recovered as sand for tailing dam construction and overflow reporting to the tailing disposal impoundment site.
• Storing, preparing, and distributing reagents used in the sulphide ore process.
• Water from tailing and concentrate dewatering will be recycled for reuse in the process.
Plant water stream types include: process water, fresh water, potable water, and fire water.

OXIDE ORE PROCESS PLANT DESCRIPTION
The following items summarize the process operations required to extract gold from the oxide gold ore:

• Size reduction of the run-of-mine (ROM) ore to minus 200 mm using a primary gyratory crusher.
• Size reduction of the primary crushed ore to minus 50 mm through screening and a secondary cone crusher.
• Stacking crushed ore by overland conveyors and a stacker onto a heap leach pad and, subsequently, leaching the ore with cyanide solution.
• Recovering gold and silver from the pregnant leach solution on activated carbon in carbon in column tanks (CIC).
• Recovering copper from the pregnant leach solution by the Sulphidization, Acidification, Recycling and Thickening (SART) process.
• Treating gold and silver loaded carbon recovered from the CIC circuit by acid washing, cold stripping with cyanide solution to remove copper, hot stripping with caustic solution to remove gold, and thermal reactivation of the carbon.
• Recovering gold from the pregnant carbon stripping solution as cathode sludge on stainless steel mesh cathodes in an electrowinning cell.
• Melting the cathode sludge with fluxes to produce a gold-silver Doré bar, the final product of the ore processing facility.
• Storing, preparing, and distributing reagents to be used in the process.