Normal production from the Owl Creek open pit and Hoyle Pond underground operations should total 70,000 oz this year. But with an inventory of gold concentrates in process, another 20,000 oz will boost sales to the 90,000-oz mark, President Brian Ferguson said.
Both mines are a few miles west of Timmins, Ont., near the Kidd Creek metallurgical complex, where the gold ores are concentrated and later shipped for refining to Noranda Inc.’s Horne smelter in Rouyn-Noranda, Que.
While Hoyle Pond has enough reserves to carry it another three years at least, Owl Creek production ended in June of this year. (Nearly 240,000 tons grading 3.3 grams per tonne is stockpiled and awaiting treatment.) Falconbridge is in the midst of a $6.2-million underground exploration program, testing gold mineralization below the pit floor to a depth of 600 m. Drilling should be completed by this fall and, if warranted, a feasibility study will follow to gauge the potential for underground production, said Ferguson.
The company, a publicly-traded spin-off from parent Falconbridge Ltd., may also consider erecting a mill on-site to handle ore from the two operations. If economic gold mineralization is found at Owl Creek, a shaft will have to be sunk. Access to Hoyle Pond is provided by an incline ramp.
Curent cash operating costs at the 300-ton-per-day Hoyle Pond are $260(US) per oz.
Net earnings for Falconbridge Gold in the second quarter of this year reached $1,841,000 (14 cents per share) compared with earnings of $883,000 (7 cents per share) in the corresponding period of 1988.
For the first half of this year, net earnings amounted to $3,207,000 (24 cents a share) compared with earnings of $937,000 (7 cents a share) in the same period a year ago.
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