They are saying that the current Lamaque mine plan calls for them to ramp up to 104,000 ounces in annual production even before rehabbing any of the shafts:
2010 - 45,000 ounces
2011 - 85,000
2012 - 85,000
2013 - 104,000
The current Lamaque mine plan calls for ramp up to the 104,000 ounce production level without having to go below the 2000 ft level within the mine and without having to rehab any of the shafts. They say they can push production from 85,000 ounces to 104,000 ounces from planned development above 2000 ft. That's all within the current mine plan. They are not looking to rehab Sigma #2 shaft until 3 or 4 years down the road. However, they are saying once the shafts have been rehabilitated then it's possible (realistically, foreseeable) to ramp up production ounces beyond the 104,000 level (possibly to as high as 150,000 per year from Lamaque alone).
I take it they will need to dewater down to the 2000 level at some point down the road though. I believe that the water is as high as 1200 ft. Thus, they will need to dewater from between 1200 ft and 2000 ft at some point before then ramp up to 104,000 ounces.
Also, I am not sure how they will access ore between 1000 ft and the 2000 ft level. I get the impressive that the haulage ramp does not go below maybe 800 to 1000 down. It's possible that the Lamaque #7 shaft is in good shape. I vaguely remember reading in one of the reports that some rehab work was done on Lamaque #7 in the past). Also, I guess it's possible that both Lamaque #7 and Sigma #2 shafts do not need rehab down to 2000 ft.
It's also possible that peggy meant to say 1000 ft instead of 2000 ft with regards to the current mine plan (and the 104,000 ounce ramp up level). That would make more sense to me given no immediate rehab is planned for any of the shafts.
Peggy makes 2 comments about this on the conference call (at 11:35 and at 22:35).
1 comment:
As we know, the 3 primary mining locations (Sigma West/Bedard Dyke, North Wall Dyke, Cross-Over Zone) targeted to provide ore in the near-term (first 3 years) all have access to existing portals (within the Sigma o/p). These portals essentially represent the doors to established declines within the underground. I believe these 3 declines will play a major role in transporting the material within the first 3 to 4 years of the Lamaque u/g operation (up to 104,000 ounces of annual production), hence this is likely why they are able to operate (in the near-term) without refurbishment of the shafts.
From the Jan'09 DD report, page 9 (Currently posted by Carib on this blog, to the right, and also on Century's homepage):
"Access to the underground will include three declines driven from the current Sigma open pit to access the Lamaque II, North Wall, and Sigma West mining regions and a vertical shaft to access deeper ore (Figure i-1). Initial ramp-up production will be sourced from the existing Lamaque II decline at the south east end of the Sigma Pit, which will provide haulage access to the Lamaque II and cross-over section (Figure i-2). Planned declines in the west and north of the pit will access the Bedard Dyke and the sub parallel structures in the north wall of the
open pit."
"Beginning in 2012, mid to long-term production will be supported by refurbishing the Sigma 2 shaft and recommissioning the sub level Sigma 3 shaft. The Sigma 2 shaft is situated in the east end of the Sigma pit close to the existing processing plant and other infrastructure. Recommissioning the two shafts will complete the access to all of the remaining reserves from the surface to the 40 level located over 6,000 ft (2,000m) below the surface."
Remember, those quotes are from the Jan'09 report. The start up date was pushed back one year. It means that all the other dates were pushed back by one year also. For example, the quoted date of 2012 is now 2013.
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