PLACER PACIFIC SAYS BIG BELL GOLD STUDY EXPANDING

  &lt;Placer Pacific Ltd> said it will
  undertake a full feasibility study of Western Australia's Big
  Bell gold prospect.
      Results of an economic evaluation of the find, in which
  Placer has an option with &lt;Australian Consolidated Minerals
  Ltd> (ACM) to earn a 50 pct interest, were encouraging enough
  to warrant a full study, Placer said in a statement.
      Big Bell, in the Murchison goldfield 540 km north east of
  Perth, was founded in 1904. Between 1937 and 1955 it yielded
  22.8 tonnes of gold and 7.8 tonnes of silver while milling
  about 30,000 tonnes of ore a month.
      Placer has said the prospect has an estimated 14 mln tonnes
  of ore with a three-gram-per-tonne concentration accessible by
  open-pit mining and a further 4.5 mln tonnes with a
  4.4-gram-a-tonne concentration between 300 and 600 meters
  underground.
      It said it was obliged to produce the feasibility study no
  later than December 31 this year by which time it would have
  spent three mln dlrs on Big Bell.
      If the results are positive and a commitment to develop
  made then construction would take about 12 months, Placer said.
  

