First gold pour at Young-Davidson

AuRico Gold celebrated the pouring of its first gold bar at its Young-Davidson mine in Matachewan, April 30.

Commercial production at the northeastern Ontario operation is expected to start in the third quarter.

In a May 1 release, the Toronto-based miner reported the wet commissioning of the mill facility was complete in late March at which time ore was introduced into the circuit and ore commissioning began. In the weeks that followed, the processing facility has moved to a 24-hour continuous operation and mill through-put began to steadily ramp-up.

In mid to late April, the mill has averaged 5,000 tonnes a day, including a couple of days where daily capacity reached 6,000 tonnes.

The company already has six months of ore stockpiled for the mill.

Considering the company broke ground to begin construction only 20 months ago, CEO Peter MacPhail said the commissioning has “gone better than anticipated.” p.

“I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge the dedication and hard work of the entire Young-Davidson team, as well as our contractors and suppliers who have all been working diligently towards achieving this first major milestone.”