North of 60 Mining News - The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North

TMAC Resources Inc. Jan. 15 reported the sale of 17,350 ounces of gold for US$1,275 per ounce, for US$22.1 million, from its Hope Bay Mine in Nunavut during the fourth quarter.

For the full year, 49,040 oz of gold was poured during the first year of operation at Hope Bay, of which 46,990 oz were sold generating US$59.7 million of revenue for the year and 2,050 ounces were doré or refined.

The mill at Hope Bay reached commercial production on June 1, but poor recoveries have hampered the ability to reach full operating capacity.

Despite these difficulties, the operation processed 69,600 metric tons of ore at a grade of 13.7 g/t during the fourth quarter. With recoveries averaging 72 percent during the final three months of 2017, the processing plant recovered 22,220 oz of the 30,700 oz of the gold contained in this ore.

Mill improvements being implemented are beginning to improve both mill recoveries and throughput.

TMAC said that after the November installation of a dewatering cone, the recoveries averaged 76 percent, a marked improvement over the 67 percent average recoveries for the year.

The processing plant achieved 84 percent of design throughput in December.

Overall, the Hope Bay Mine produced 56,630 oz of gold in 2017, of which roughly 7,600 oz remained as gold-in-circuit as of the end of the year.

"TMAC continues to systematically work through the Doris plant to improve plant operations towards design throughput and recovery levels. All of the hard work and dedication over the past many months, by all the plant workers, has resulted in significant improvements, with the recovery for November and December at an average of 76 percent and throughput in December averaging 84 percent of design," said TMAC Executive Chairman Terry MacGibbon. "Two of the three key improvement areas identified during last summer's plant work shop, a dewatering cone to reduce excess water in the concentrate treatment plant and new resin beads in the resin columns, were addressed during the fourth quarter. The third key improvement area, a new cyclone distributor head, has been fabricated and will be installed shortly."

While improving the mill, crews continue to stockpile high-grade gold ore from the Doris Mine.

For 2017, 150,700 metric tons of ore averaging 11.5 g/t (55,700 oz) gold was mined. As a result, the operation had 66,600 metric tons of ore averaging 13.8 g/t in stockpile at the end of the year.

"At the Doris Mine, underground development continues with the ramp to Doris Connector, our next mining area, well underway, and with the ramp continuing to the Doris BTD zone for future stope access and diamond drill platforms. Ore grade, dilution and mining conditions continued to be as expected with production mining being regulated to coincide with plant throughput capacity," said MacGibbon.

Ore production in 2018 will mainly come from the Doris North and Doris BTD zones.

TMAC plans to mine between 420,000 and 470,000 metric tons of ore averaging 11 and 14 g/t gold this year.

Once the company has ramped up the initial recovery circuit to design capacity, it plans to install, commission and commence ramp up of the second circuit, increasing the overall throughput capacity to 2,000 metric tons per day.

TMAC finished 2017 with C$42 million of unrestricted cash, including the C$10 million minimum cash balance required under the terms of TMAC's debt facility, and C$44 million of restricted cash.

–SHANE LASLEY