Bond Gold, Placer Dome mining in Pickle Lake

The mine, which went into production last October, is expected to produce 60,000 oz of gold annually.

Capping a remarkably rapid exploration to production cycle, the remote fly-in mining and milling operation is now meeting all of its design parameters, The Northern Miner learned on a recent visit to the site.

“We’re into a good production mode,” said geologist Ron Little. “We have two months advance mill feed available with 16,000 tonnes of broken ore stockpiled on surface and underground.”

The $35 million mine/mill complex is the first new gold producer in the Pickle Lake region for over 20 years and the company’s first Canadian mine. Processing 250 tonnes per day, the operation is run on a fly-in, fly-out basis with crews rotating every 14 days. A 4,500-ft runway constructed at the site permits air transportation of personnel to Dryden, Ont., a major centre on the Trans Canada Highway. A winter trail links the minesite with the town of Pickle Lake.

Bond Gold, formerly St. Joe, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bond International Gold (TSE), which is 58%-owned by Dallhold, the family holding company of Australian businessman Alan Bond.

An observation one makes upon arrival at the fly-in operation, is a figure depicting a boxing kangaroo painted on the side of some mine vehicles. It serves as a reminder of the company’s Australian connection and a symbol of the aggressive business approach often taken by the Bond group of companies.

First intersected in 1985, the Golden Patricia orebody hosts recoverable reserves calculated at 367,650 tonnes grading 20.5 g (0.60 oz) per tonne. Additional reserves in the possible category are reported at 336,000 tonnes grading 15.5 g gold per tonne. Mine life is expected to be a minimum of five years.

The main orebody is essentially a narrow (0.5m) sheet-like quartz vein in a shear zone that has been traced up to 6 km along strike. The quartz vein occurs within a basalt footwall and felsic volcanic hangingwall unit, interpreted as an altered porphyry.

Two decline ramps, 1 km apart, provide access to the orebody’s East zone where mining is currently under way. The second ramp serves for ventilation only.

“To date we’ve mined three shrinkage stopes, and over-all the ground conditions are very good,” said chief engineer Doug Hayes. “We’re halfway finished mining two of the larger stopes in the upper level of the East zone and our mining widths are coming down while production is going up.”

In the 230-stope examined by The Northern Miner, coarse visible gold was observed in a 0.5m-wide quartz vein with minor amounts of sulphide mineralization present.

This year, Bond plans to drift west on the mine’s 160-m level to further define reserves and reach a large pocket of ore in the mine’s 20-West zone.

At the time of The Northern Miner’s visit, Bond had just completed a change over to in-house mining crews.

“We took over the mining work from contractor Redpath in January,” said Pat Moore, general manager at Golden Patricia. “The change was accomplished smoothly and we’re quite pleased we were able to put together our own crews quickly and without having to advertise.”

Of the nearly 100 people employed at the mine, about 30 come from local native reserves in the area. Bond received a $60,000 grant from the federal government to assist with training costs, and has an agreement with the Windigo Council to ensure 30% of the mine’s workforce is drawn from local reserves. “We’ve been very successful in the mill with native hiring,” Moore said.

Bond hopes to minimize potential dilution in the narrow vein operation by keeping a close eye on mining widths and grade control. The company could realize a saving of between $2 to $4 million by the switch to in-house mining, said Desmond Kearns, president.

The mining method chosen at Golden Patricia is open stope shrinkage. The ore is mucked using a fleet of five 250JCI diesel scoops, and trucked to surface on 11.3- tonne diesel ore trucks.

Gold is recovered by a small compact mill which utilizes a conventional grinding circuit, gravity separation and cyanidation in a series of six leach tanks. Zinc precipitation and the Merrill Crowe system are used.

A few minor start-up bugs were encountered explained mill superintendent Fern Hamonic, but none was serious.

“We pushed the start button last October, but six weeks later the shaft in the thickener tank broke.” It was sent out for repair and brought back on line in a couple of days. Other problems included too much flocculant in the thickener and a burned out motor on the cone crusher.

“We’ve also had some problems with ore freezing in the coarse ore storage bin,” he said. This has been temporarily solved by the installation of heaters and a cover over the bin.

Despite a few mill tune-up problems, head grades and gold recovery have been close to those expected. Mill head grades have averaged 22.5 g per tonne, while mill recovery has been 90.4%, according to Bond.

Two new drum filters, obtained in Saskatchewan, were recently transported to the minesite along the winter road. These will be installed in April. “We hope to boost gold recovery in the mill to 94% from its current level of 90%.” said Hamonic. A larger size jig with a 16 ft shaker table is expected to increase recovery from the gravity circuit to 65%.

In terms of logistics, maintaining the winter road into the Golden Patricia mine is a job by itself. The company sprays water from large tanker trucks onto the snow- covered road and then packs it down with large tires dragged over the surface. The company is depending on the road to transport in heavy cargo and bulk supplies before spring break-up. Two large propane tanks were being transported on the winter ice road at the time of a visit by The Northern Miner.

Paul Malench, a 24-year old engineer, designed and maintains the 90 km winter road for Bond Gold.

Cash operating costs at Golden Patricia during the month of December averaged $269(US) per oz according to Bond. The company’s target operating cost for the remainder of the year is $250 per oz.

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