Ending a 4-month production hiatus,
In early March, Kirkland Lake Gold was forced to suspend operations after a pillar between an ore pass and Shaft no. 3 collapsed, causing the timber set to become misaligned. Repairs lasted a month, though by their completion, the company had decided to start emphasizing underground development, service deliveries, and definition drilling.
Regular gold pours began in mid-July, tapping a stockpile of underground and surface ore.
Meanwhile, dewatering crews are nearing the 5150 level, where the highest loading pocket on Shaft 3 is situated. A booster pump, recently installed on the 4750 level, is facilitating the process, and crews are expected to reach the targeted 5700 level by the autumn.
Kirkland Lake Gold also has recommissioned both Shaft no. 2 and the Lake Shore ramp to support production from nearby stopes, as well as for future drilling. Shaft 2 is a mile east of Shaft 3, and the ramp, farther east still, on the neighbouring Lake Shore concession.
At last report, Macassa held proven and probable reserves of 800,000 tons grading 0.45 oz. gold per ton. Measured and indicated resources stand at 3.06 million tons grading 0.31 oz., whereas inferred resources are pegged at 449,000 tons grading 0.27 oz.
These estimates do not include the D zone, which sits between the shafts, nor known mineralization on the contiguous Kirkland Lake Gold, Teck-Hughes, Lake Shore and Wright-Hargreaves properties. Those properies lie east of Shaft 2 and came with the mine and mill complex.
Underground drilling on the D zone recently extended the vein 150 ft. along strike to the south. Hole 228 returned 8.3 ft. grading a cut 0.94 oz., including 1.9 ft. at 4.14 oz.
Infill holes 224, 226 and 227 also intersected the D vein, averaging 0.21-0.68 oz. over 1.1-4.4 ft. Hole 224, as well as 228, also cut a gold-bearing splay vein off the main structure that hosts the D vein, averaging, respectively, 0.52 oz. over 11.2 ft. and 0.67 oz. over 2.6 ft.
Visible gold and tellurides are common to both veins.
Kirkland Lake, which discovered the D vein earlier this year, is testing for strike and up-plunge mineralized extensions. Holes are being drilled from the 3800 level and collared on 100-ft. centres.
To date, 15 of the 38 holes drilled in the northerly trending D vein have returned significant results. The holes are spaced over a strike length of 1,000 ft., though the enclosing structure is known to extend to 1,950 ft.
Based on the drill results, Kirkland Lake puts the D vein’s indicated resource at 71,200 tons grading 0.74 oz. and its inferred resource at 48,500 tons grading 0.62 oz. Both estimates are based on a minimum horizontal mining width of 5 ft., a cutting factor of 3.5 oz., a cutoff grade of 0.25 oz., and a volume recovery rate of 94%.
Mineralization remains open in all directions.
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