The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Yukon operation produces 24,759 oz gold during first quarter North of 60 Mining News – April 8, 2022
Victoria Gold's Eagle Mine in the Yukon produced 26,759 ounces of gold during the first three months of 2021.
With the implementation of Project 250, more ore will be delivered by this conveyor to the heap leach pad, resulting in an estimated annual increase in Eagle Gold Mine output to around 250,000 oz starting in 2023.
Victoria Gold Corp. April 7 reported that its Eagle Mine in the Yukon produced 24,759 ounces of gold during the first quarter, down about 10% from the 26,759 oz produced during the first three months of 2021.
The company attributes the drop to periods of exceptionally cold weather over the Yukon winter that impacted gold production.
Gold production at heap leach operations such as Eagle lags behind mining, crushing, and ore stacking. With the operational plan over the past two years, including the curtailment of ore stacking from January through March, the coldest days of the Yukon winter, gold production at Eagle is weighted to the second half of the year.
During the break in stacking ore on the heap leach pad, Eagle crews carried out a six-week maintenance program on the crushing and stacking facilities in preparation for increased mining and processing as the weather warms.
"As we head into spring, stacking rates will significantly increase along with gold production as fresh ore is placed under irrigation," said Victoria Gold President and CEO John McConnell.
In 2021, the Eagle Mine produced 105,394 oz of gold during the second half of the year compared to 58,899 oz in the first half.
This year, Victoria expects to produce between 165,000 and 190,000 oz of gold at Eagle, compared to the 164,222 oz produced in 2021.
With the implementation of Project 250, the Eagle Mine gold output is expected to further increase to 250,000 oz per year starting in 2023.
Introduced by Victoria earlier this year, Project 250 is a quick and low-cost means of boosting ore stacked on the heap leach pad.
The main feature of Project 250 is the installation of an intermediate scalping screen that will bypass fine ore material from the crushing circuit directly to the pad. This simple diversion is expected to increase the crushing circuit throughput by roughly 15%, resulting in approximately 1.5 million metric tons of extra ore per year stacked on the heap leach pad.
Construction of this fines bypass facility is expected to be completed by the end of the year, which would put Project 250 into action for 2023.
In addition to the scalping screen facility, Project 250 contemplates year-round stacking of the heap leach pad, which will extend the overall stacking schedule from nine to eleven months a year. This schedule allows for an annual four-week maintenance shutdown while minimizing the slump in gold output during the first half of each year.
Further details on Project 250 can be read at Victoria lays out Project 250 strategy in the January 17, 2022 edition of North of 60 Mining News.
Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.
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