With $29 million in exploration and $134 million in project spending budgeted for 2010, this marks the year Lake Shore Gold is set to make the leap from junior to mid-tier.

The company’s landmark plans come hot on the heels of an incredibly busy 2009, which saw the acquisition of joint-venture partner West Timmins Mining and the raising of more than $85 million in financing.

In the process, the company is providing renewed hope to a city that has received news of more than 600 jobs to be lost through Xstrata’s Kidd Metallurgical site layoffs.

“This is really going to give us a good morale and economic boost at a time where it’s needed,” says Timmins Mayor Tom Laughren.

“It’s good to see.”

Lake Shore Gold’s flagship project, the Timmins Mine, is expected to begin commercial production by the fourth quarter of 2010, with an anticipated target of 100,000 ounces of gold per year. The property has reserves of 830,000 ounces, and a resource of 1.1-million ounces.

Hopes are equally high for Lake Shore Gold’s anticipated second mine, the Bell Creek Complex, consisting of the Bell Creek Mine, as well as the Vogel and Schumacher properties.

The company completed 52,000 metres of surface drilling across the complex in 2009, and an underground advanced exploration program is currently undergoing a industry-compliant resource study.

The Bell Creek shaft is being dewatered, allowing for ramp access at the Schumacher and Vogel properties. In all, there are 808,000 ounces worth of gold resources throughout the complex.

Initial development ore is being targeted at the property through 2010, with plans for pre-production in 2011 and commercial production in 2012.

The company further added to their potential for additional resources at its ever-growing Bell Creek Complex with the late December acquisition of Bell Creek West. The 28-square-kilometre exploration property was purchased from Goldcorp Canada Ltd., manager of the Porcupine Gold Mines Joint Venture (PJV) and Goldcorp Inc. in exchange for $15 million cash and $5 million in shares.

Among the acquired assets are the past-producing Marlhill Mine and a number of early-stage exploration targets, all of which straddle the New Mine Trend, which hosts Goldcorp’s Hoyle Pond and Pamour mines.

The Bell Creek Mill, which will process the ore from the Timmins Mine, has already been refurbished through 2009, with its capacity increased from an initial 800-tonnes per day to 1,500-tonnes per day. It’s already slated to see an increase in its total capacity to 3,000 tonnes per day in 2010, a move carrying a pricetag of $30 million.

Also of interest to Laughren is the potential for a new mill which may be built at the West Timmins site. The extent of the new mill will depend largely on the results of ongoing exploration work on adjoining sites, says Mark Utting, Lake Shore’s vice-president of investor relations. Preliminary suggestions indicate it is being planned for 2013, and will be necessary as the company seeks to achieve annual production of 350,000 ounces in three years by advancing not only the Bell Creek Complex, but also its Thunder Creek property.

Formerly part of a joint venture with West Timmins Mining, Lake Shore acquired Thunder Creek following the completion of a business combination with West Timmins in November, worth roughly $320 million.

Like Bell Creek, the Thunder Creek property will also be the subject of an underground advanced exploration program, worth $28 million. Plans are to bring the property to an industry-compliant resource by the end of 2010.

The funding for many of the year’s coming work is being supported by $85 million raised in early December from Hochschild Mining Holdings Ltd., a subsidiary of Hochschild Mining Plc. The deal increased the company’s holdings in Lake Shore from 32 per cent to 36 per cent.