Artemis Gold (TSXV: ARTG) says its Blackwater mine in central British Columbia is now in the final stages of construction and commissioning, tracking towards its scheduled first gold pour by the end of this year.
In an update provided Thursday, the company said first ore has been fed to the processing facility’s crushing circuits, with full handover from commissioning to the operations team expected within the next few weeks. Mining in the open pit started this quarter at the site 160 km southwest of Prince George, it added.
Blackwater is expected become the province’s first new gold mine since the Brucejack in 2017, producing an average of 500,000 oz. gold-equivalent during its first decade.
The 225kV renewable grid power line and substation have been successfully commissioned and is now feeding the Blackwater site, Artemis said. With the 25kV site-wide power reticulation almost complete, the company expects to gradually shut down and demobilize the project’s diesel power generation units before year’s end.
The tailings storage facility construction activity is also complete and ready for production, it added. Artemis expects to feed first ore to the ball mill in the next few weeks.
Shares in Artemis Gold rose 6% on Friday afternoon in Toronto, taking the Vancouver-based miner’s market capitalization to $3.3 billion. They’ve traded in a 52-week range of $5.59 to $15.50.
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