If the Troilus gold property in northern Quebec gets the go-ahead, it will be one of Canada’s larger mine developments in recent years. It will be the largest gold producer in the Chapais-Chibougamau region and Quebec’s third largest gold producer after Doyon and Bousquet 2.
Minnova (TSE) and Kerr Addison (TSE) are 50-50 owners of the property, which is undergoing a $4.2-million feasibility study (T.N.M., Nov. 16/92). They will be sharing equally in the cost of the study and results will be known in June, 1993.
A mineral resource of over 230 million tonnes at an overall grade of 0.63 grams gold per tonne has so far been delineated. It extends from surface to a depth of 250 metres but two deep drill holes show that mineralization goes at least to a depth of 400 metres. Each of two zones is more than one kilometre long separated by a 500-metre gap. Mineralization reaches thicknesses of more than 100 metres.
Prefeasibility work shows that part of the deposit is commercially viable at present metal prices. Production would come from two pits about 500 metres apart and reaching separate depths of 250 metres and 120 metres. The pits will yield more than 40 million tonnes grading 1.4 grams gold, 1.5 grams silver and 0.12% copper. Cutoff grades in the preliminary pit design would be 0.5 grams gold using a stripping ratio of 2-to-1.
Gold would be recovered in a copper-gold flotation concentrate. A gravity circuit may be added to improve gold recoveries. At a rate of 9,500 tonnes per day, the mine would produce more than 4,043 kg gold (130,000 oz.) per year during an estimated 12-year life.
Formerly known as the Frotet-Troilus project, the property is 125 km north of the town of Chibougamau and is accessible by an all-season gravel road and 40 km of winter road.
Minnova made the discovery in 1987 by tracing a train of mineralized, glacial boulders in the course of a general exploration program. The program was initially financed via Kerr Addison flow-through funds.
The deposit has the hallmark of a porphyry copper and though this type of deposit is commonplace in the Cordillera, it is rare in the Precambrian rocks of the Canadian shield.
Pyrite, chalcopyrite and pyrrhotite occur as disseminations and stringers in volcanic rocks. Gold occurs in the sulphides as discrete metallic grains but it is rarely visible to the naked eye. Felsic dykes crisscross the mineralized zones and the whole is enclosed in an envelope of alteration. Development and construction costs for the future mine are presently estimated at $135 million and include the building of a 40-km road, a 150-km powerline from Chibougamau and a mill on the site. Substantial potential exists for increasing the life of the operation by expanding ore reserves at depth and through further exploration in the general area.
About 180 jobs will be created if the mine goes into production. Employees will probably commute from towns in the region, living on-site during their work stint. The arrangement would be comparable to the Lac Short operation, which was successfully run on similar lines in the same region for a number of years.
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