PLACER PACIFIC SAYS BIG BELL GOLD STUDY EXPANDING <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 <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.