GEOLOGY: A LOOK AT WHAT’S BEHIND QUEBEC’S WORLD-CLASS MINING CAMPS / 5 Geotech_Earlug_2016_Alt2.pdf 1 2016-06-24 4:27:20 PM
IN FOCUS
QUEBEC
Osisko, RNC and the most exciting juniors / 7–10
VTEM™ | ZTEM™ | Gravity | Magnetics
THE ULTIMATE GEAR ON WHEELS
905 841 5004 | geotech.ca
OCTOBER 3–9, 2016 / VOL. 102 ISSUE 34 / GLOBAL MINING NEWS · SINCE 1915 / $3.99 / WWW.NORTHERNMINER.COM
Agnico Eagle adds gold ounces at Amaruq NUNAVUT
| First production anticipated in 2019, as nearby Meadowbank nears depletion
West Kirkland improves Hasbrouck’s economics NEVADA GOLD
| Hasbrouck has US$120M NPV and 43% IRR after tax BY SALMA TARIKH starikh@northernminer.com
W
est Kirkland Mining (TSXV: WKM; US-OTC: WKLDF) has added more shine to its 75%-held Hasbrouck gold-silver project in southwestern Nevada, with an updated prefeasibility study (PFS) outlining lower startup capital for a heap-leach operation producing 74,000 equivalent oz. gold annually for nine years. “It confirms the viability of the original study that was published last year. The key things to this project are the small amount of See WEST KIRKLAND / 2
BY MATTHEW KEEVIL
PM40069240
mkeevil@northernminer.com VANCOUVER
Geologist Roxanne Takpanie and project geologist Robert Fraser at Agnico Eagle Mines’ Amaruq gold project in Nunavut. AGNICO EAGLE MINES BY MATTHEW KEEVIL mkeevil@northernminer.com VANCOUVER
A
gnico Eagle Mines’ (TSX: AEM; NYSE: AEM) Amaruq gold project is well on the way to becoming its next great discovery story. The company has rapidly advanced the Whale Tail and IVR zones over the past three years, and the resource growth rate has been impressive. On Sept. 15 Agnico reported an updated resource estimate at Amaruq, which boasts 3.7 million inferred oz. gold within 19.4 million tonnes grading 5.97 grams gold per tonne. The IVR deposit grew 320% to 3.9 million tonnes of 6.84 grams gold for 852,000 contained oz., while overall open-pit resources
jumped 33% to 13.6 million tonnes at 5.53 grams gold for 2.4 million contained oz. gold. “We’ve advanced quickly due to everything we’ve learned from our nine-year experience in Nunavut,” Agnico Eagle vice-president of exploration Guy Gosselin said during an interview. “Having the infrastructure in the region also keeps costs affordable, and we’ve established a really strong understanding of Archean greenstone deposits.” Gosselin commented that most of the deposits Agnico has explored are typical of the iron-formation greenstone belts seen in northern Canada. “The affinity with iron formation makes the magnetic and electromagnetic (EM) surveys very powerful,” he said. “You can recognize
signs under cover and see the folds of the formations, which are the structural and chemical traps for the gold.” Amaruq has become a high priority because Agnico’s Meadowbank gold mine, which lies 50 km southeast, is scheduled to run out of ore by the third quarter of 2018. The company plans to complete a 62 km access road between the two sites, and hopes to get Amaruq into production by 2019. To date at Amaruq, Agnico has discovered six zones of gold-bearing quartz-pyrrhotite-arsenopyrite veining and flooding within volcano-sedimentary rocks. The IVR deposit is composed of the I, V and R zones. The V zone hosts almost the entire stated resource, and has emerged as a secondary source of open-pit mill feed
in a production scenario. Gosselin says the IVR material would help Agnico optimize throughput at Meadowbank ’s 11,000-tonne-per-day mill, which manages operating and production costs. Exploration at Amaruq has recently been highlighted by more lens discoveries in the V zone, which forms parallel quartz-vein structures dipping shallowly towards Whale Tail from surface to 542 metres deep. The surface expression of the zone has a 1.2 km strike length, while the Whale Tail deposit has been defined over 2.2 km of strike length and extends from surface to 650 metres deep. Both deposits remain open to depth and lateral See AGNICO / 2
DETOUR GOLD: PIT FLOODING HOLDS BACK PRODUCTION / 16
1 2 3 4 5 7 8 9 10 14 15 16_Oct3_Main.indd 1
2016-09-27 7:53 PM