Cambior names mine in honor of Sullivan founder

Life has been breathed into another of this bustling mining town’s former producing gold mines. With more than 100 guests on hand, Louis Gignac, president of Cambior Inc (TSE), officially opened the Eldrich- Flavel mine. In honor of one of Quebec’s most respected and successful mining men, Gignac then renamed the mine Pierre Beauchemin.

The Pierre Beauchemin mine is expected to produce approximately 40,000 oz of gold per year or 15% of Cambior’s total gold output of more than 200,000 oz of gold forecast for 1989. During the pre-production phase, the mine will yield 18,000 oz before entering full production next year.

Milling will take place at Cambior’s Yvan Vezina mill, located 30 miles northwest of the site. The mill’s 1,200-ton-per-day capacity is more than adequate to handle Beauchemin feed at a rate of 785 tons per day.

Unlike most gold mines in the camp, which are generally high-cost operations, the Beauchemin mine is forecasting an average production cost of $340 or $272(US) per oz of gold over the mine’s six-year operating life. Reserves total 1.58 million tons grading 0.15 oz gold per ton.

The large reserve base was developed during a surface and underground exploration effort which began in the early 1980s, Denis Bray, chief geologist for Cambior told The Northern Miner at the site. According to Bray, the initial exploration managers, which included Soquem, the Quebec government minerals company, were reluctant to expend exploration dollars on the old mine workings, believing that no potential remained.

Under the direction of Sullivan geologists, the first drill tests of the Eldrich mine area hit economic grade mineralization. “The original exploration program was based entirely on geology,” Bray explained. “Little was known about the mine.” Cambior acquired a 100% interest in the property after amalgamating with Sullivan Mines last year.

The current reserves are hosted in extensions of the main zones which were mined from 1955 to 1962. Drilling extended known mineralization by more than 800 ft below the old mine workings. The vertical shaft extends to a depth of 1,800 ft. Gold mineralization is associated with a major shear zone running through a quartz diorite pluton.