Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Carib, short poll question idea

Lamaque`s tonnes per day at end of June (not avg June) - end of May was 420

*800 or above
*700 - 799
*600 - 699
*500 - 599
*499 or below

Maybe we can have it up for just a few days (until end of June).

It`s not important at all. Only if you have a bit of spare time. Also, feel free to replace the question if you think of a better idea - I absolutely wouldn`t mind at all.

12 comments:

rick said...

its arroud 750 and 825 ton per shift

yikes1 said...

Thanks Rick...have conditions improved at all?

rhump said...

Rick,,, that is good news! So how many shifts is CMM running?

justwondering said...

I believe CM is mining around 750 t/d. What is alarming is the grades are low and may be a result of trying to increase tons.I am not sure if the BD has commenced yet or if they are still bolting the pit highwall. If the north portal is going to talke as long to prepare i sure hope they are starting it soon.I am not sure if the CSST is aware that another portal is going in. I understand that an access road has to be developed and a lot of highwall ground support put in. Hope they have their "ducks in order" for the the tour in July.

Anonymous said...

Wow, a moment when I realised I didn't know something fundamental! Do they have two shifts a day? Is gold mining like coal mining, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week?

justwondering said...

The u/g runs 2 10 hr shifts per day and mill runs 24 hr shift for about 4 days per week. The tonnage from the underground can not sustain a 24 hr/7d/w mill run.

yikes1 said...

Is the low grade due to the muck they have been using?

Anonymous said...

Thanks Justwondering.

production05 said...

Actually, I don`t mind seeing a lower average grade, assuming certain developments are occuring:

1) Mechanized (Room and Pillar) mining in the flats - we should remember that the low profile equipment should be allowing them to jumbo drill, scoop up and transport the material in a much more cost efficient manner in the Lamaque flats.

2) $1,200 gold price - enables more lower grade tonnage to be economical, especially when you combined the high $1,200 gold price, with mechanical (grander scale transporation - via the low profiles - in the small u/g space) and mining minerialized low grade muck that is likely in the mining path and does not require signficant additional development (and would likely have to be removed/repositioned as waste anyway).

3) Rising average grade mix as more ore sources as added going forward - at $1,200 gold and mechanized Room and Pillar mining in the flats, 1.0 - 2.0 g/t average gold grade from the waste muck in the Lamaque flats, blended with 4.5 g/t grade of normal stope ore in the Lamaque flats (especially reserves) and say 5.0 g/t once they add the 20,000 tonne bulk sample ore to the mix from the Bedard dyke.

4) 95% recovery, 4.0 g/t avg grade and 1,200 tpd = 95% recovery, 4.76 g/t avg grade and 1,000 tpd

It`s the same thing from a production standpoint. We have plenty of extra mill capacity to take advantage of low grade gold in the waste muck in the flats. It just means we have to mine more tonnes. If the low profile equipment enables us to do so in a much bulkier manner then we may still be able to delivery the targeted ounces at the targeted cash cost per oz.

5) Long-hole stoping will substantially enchance everything later this year due to full bulk mining of the Bedard dyke ore. At full scale mining of the BD, we are likely looking at 50 - 60% of the Lamaque ore then coming from the BD - the 1 - 2 g/t grade from waste much in the Lamaque flats then becomes a relatively small percentage of Lamaque ore going to the mill.

6) North Wall - with the long-hole stope permit in maybe 3 months, North Wall development can start in Q4. We then have the chance of adding cost effective long-hole stope mining to the mix come early January.


I think, to get a full appreciation of the project, we probably need to look at the entire ramp up picture over the next 6 to 9 months. I think the 1.0 - 2.0 g/t we are getting from the waste muck is a bonus for us, due largely to the $1,200 gold price and the efficient low profile mechanized equipment in the flats. Management needs to also demonstrate to the market that solid 4.5 g/t reserves are also in the flats.

I think everything can work to our advantage. Management just needs to show that the low grade ore is a bonus, and not a replacement for the higher grade ore that was built into the plan.

As I have said on the blog for the past year and a half, (per the Jan`09 independent bankable DD report) there is low grade bonus ore in the flats that Century can mine along the way if the gold price continues to be reasonable. As such, the current mining approach does not surprise me. Again, what we need to confirm is that they are doing alright with the regular reserve ore in the Lamaque stopes. If all is good on that side of the equation then it means we are taking advantage of everything.

Anonymous said...

Rick and Wondering ..

Can you give any idea or general estimate of what the current ore grade is ?

thx

justwondering said...

rick....I believe it is around 750 tonnes/day not per shift.

justwondering said...

Anonymous..... I believe that the grades are 3.7g/t to 4.0g/t,still under the reserve grade