The Aquarius gold mine, operated by Asarco Exploration Canada, is expected to produce 15,000 oz of gold this year. Located 22 miles east of Timmins, Ont., the mill began processing feed from a surface stockpile on Jan 6, Aquarius mine manager Juri Houtman, told The Northern Miner. Prior to that, the 300-ton-per-day mill was used on a toll basis by Falconbridge Ltd. which trucked ore from the Owl Creek gold mine also near Timmins. The mill operates five days per week.
Although the mine suffered from excessive dilution when operations were forced to stop in 1984, the implementation of a new mining method, shrinkage stoping, is expected to feed the mill ore grading 0.2 oz gold per ton.
Several offers have also been received to buy the property, but all have been turned down. “We think the potential is very high,” R. Gray, manager of Asarco explained to The Northern Miner. Surface exploration will include 14 holes totalling 12,000 ft. This work will test several targets near the mine. Also, exploration from underground is on-going. This includes 300 ft of drifting per month and diamond drilling. The latter will be increased from one shift per day to two.
Houtman would not provide a reserve figure but did concede that at least one year of ore was available for the mill. “It’s really an exploration project,” he adds. However, Asarco is hoping that work underground will continue to block out ore for processing, well past the one-year reserve limit. In 1984, the company published reserves of 270,000 tons grading 0.25 oz.
Be the first to comment on "Aquarius producing gold"