Detour Gold continues to advance the ramp-up of its Detour Lake Mine and remains on schedule to declare commercial production in the third quarter of 2013.
“The company has made steady progress in the ramp-up of the mine in the second quarter. During the month of June, the mill achieved throughput levels above 40,000 tonnes per day for 15 days. This is a very good sign that the operation can achieve its nameplate capacity,” said Gerald Panneton, president and CEO in a statement.
During the second quarter, the mill processed a total of 2.87 million tonnes of ore from a combination of direct feed and run-of-mine stockpiles and pre-production stockpiles. The mill facility (both grinding lines) reported an average of 31,500 tonnes processed per calendar day (46,500 tonnes per operating day). Towards the end of June, the mill was regularly operating above 80 per cent of nameplate capacity.
Mill availability improved during the quarter, from an average of 63 per cent in April to 73 per cent in June. This was still lower than expected as a result of unplanned shutdowns that affected daily mill throughput. The main challenges, which slowed down progress during the second quarter, have been largely fixed.
The company expects the number of unplanned shutdowns to reduce significantly in the third quarter as the processing plant continues to reach a steady state towards design capacity.
The open pit operation mined 12.7 million tonnes during the second quarter and mining rates during the second quarter averaged approximately 160,000 tonnes per day of total material moved.
During the third quarter, the mine will focus on pre-stripping activities to provide access to the higher-grade zone located just west of the former Campbell pit.
Detour Lake is expected to produce between 260,000 ounces and 320,000 ounces of gold for the year. Post-commercial production, total cash costs are expected to be between $800 and $1,000 per ounce.
