St Andrew reactivates Hislop gold project

St Andrew Goldfields (SAS-T) is one step closer to rejoining the ranks of producers, following the start of test mining at its Hislop gold project in the Matheson area of northern Ontario.

Hislop is one of two small underground mines the company operated earlier this decade before suspending each in 1994, owing to depleted reserves. Since then, exploration has been concentrated in the vicinity of the old workings, culminating earlier this year in the outlining of the near-surface West zone.

“Starting the Hislop open pit is an important milestone for St Andrew as we return to being an operating company and producing our own gold,” states company president Charles Gryba. “The increased cash flow allows us to recommence production at the Stock mine and further develop Taylor.”

Reserves are pegged at 325,000 tonnes grading 3.4 grams gold per tonne, using a gold price of US$275 per oz., a cutoff grade of 1.7 grams, and a dilution factor of 10%. These are expected to provide for an annual production rate of 20,000 oz. per year over less than two years.

Miners have already stripped 80,000 tonnes of overburden and are now extracting ore at the targeted rate of 500 tonnes per day. Material is being trucked 55 km to the company’s Stock mill, which also processes custom feed from the Glimmer mine of Exall Resources (EXL-T) and Glimmer Resources (GME-V). Starting in 1997, that mine began providing the reactivated mill with most of its feed; currently, it contributes about 800 tonnes to the mill’s 1,300-per-day capacity.

Restarting Hislop is one of several key steps in St Andrew’s re-ascension to producer status. By year-end, the company expects to have renewed underground mining at the Stock mine at the daily rate of 200 tonnes, and will follow this by similar but phased production at its advanced Taylor project. That project hosts underground resources of 2.86 million tonnes grading 7.96 (cut) grams gold and could boost the company’s annual output to 100,000 oz. if all goes as planned.

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