TGR: What are a few of your favorite gold juniors going into the fall? Why?
VG: I have a few companies that I like right now. One of them is Century Mining Corporation (TSX.V:CMM). A month ago, Century Mining brought some low-profile scooptrams and jumbo drills from South Africa to its Lamaque Gold Mine in Val d'Or, Quebec. No other North American mining company has used this type of equipment before. These vehicles are only five feet high. Even I tower over them. The small size of these machines allows them to operate in smaller spaces, thus moving less dirt and waste, which means getting a higher grade out of the mine.
When underground, I watched this new equipment in action. Talk about productivity. The company is training their team on how to use this new equipment to increase productivity. They are now focused on adjusting blasting patterns and loading of the holes, to ensure minimal over-breakage on the blasted round. They have started to see positive results over the last month, and higher grades are coming out of the mine and into the mill. This type of operation requires time, as more stopes are opened, and room and pillar flats production increases.
I understand they have a couple more low-profile pieces of equipment on order. This seems like a logical purchase decision from what I have seen. This addition of modern technology, combined with rethinking the operation, should increase efficiencies by a very nice factor. Of the three zones to be mined and operated in 2010, the room and pillar flats are just the beginning and will provide the lowest production of the three zones. Next in line is the Bedard Dyke Gold Zone, which was opened up the same day I arrived at the mine site, and finally, they are moving on to the North Wall zone.
The Bedard Dyke will be a very welcome addition to the mill, as it will be a long-hole, open-stope complex, and is expected to grade higher than the flats. The face of the Bedard Dyke portal, prior to its first blast, graded 37 grams per ton gold (g/t Au), and recent drilling showed intersections close to 100 g/t Au. The daily tonnage expected from the Bedard Dyke will be significantly higher than the flats, as it is the meat and gravy of the operation's future. The Goldex Mine (Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. (NYSE:AEM; TSX:AEM), down the road a few kilometers, is mining below 5,500 feet with a head grade of only 2.8 g/t Au, but is moving a lot of ore via their long-hole stopes, and at a low mining cost. I can see the Bedard Dyke lowering their operating costs at Lamaque going forward.
An interesting point is that the development work required to access the Bedard Dyke will be right through this high-grade vein before they access the underground to extract their 20,000 ton bulk sample. Obviously, this material will be crushed and sent to the mill, as it has plenty of visible gold, as well as massive chalcopyrite widely disseminated all through the veins. Once the sample is removed and tested, the company will look to receiving its next permit to mine the zone.
In terms of the current mill operation, it is operational and processing about 700 tons per day (tpd), with tonnage from underground reaching peaks of 700 to 750 tpd. The mill can be cranked up to adjust for higher tonnage on any given day, as they have put through 1,100 tpd on certain days during the ramp-up of the facility. As in any normal startup and commissioning of an operation, this number is progressively increasing and will do so until they hit their daily tonnage requirements. A good thing is their 2010 requirement is only needed to average 1,200 tpd, and in 2011 just over 2,000 tpd. With a facility that can process 3,000–3,400 tpd, they have lots of extra capacity to ensure they don't operate too close and max out.
2 comments:
Of note, this appears to be the same (word for word) write up about Century as Victor published in his own report near the beginning of July (after his site visit). This timing note may be relevant due to the 700 - 750 tpd quoted in the article. That 700 - 750 tpd rate was from a month ago. If all has gone well at Lamaque in July then hopefully we see a tpd rate that is higher for both average July and month end July.
Agree read the same thing before. However, feel that there is a little different with the readership this round. Like his tone. Seems that he is implying cmm is a screaming buy!
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