By ADELLE LARMOUR
A projected two million ounces of gold will be extracted over the life of the new Pamour mine in South Porcupine, just east of Timmins, according to Chris Cormier, technical services manager of the Porcupine Joint Venture (PJV).
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This shot gives a sense of the scale of the operation at the PJV's Dome open pit mine. |
Area residents are reaping the benefits of a partnership between two internationally renowned gold mining companies: Kinross Gold Corp. and Placer Dome. The two companies merged their assets, creating the Porcupine Joint Venture (PJV) with the intent to mine a 300-square-kilometre land package, which encompasses the Placer Dome's retiring open-pit mine.
The new mine site was previously owned by Royal Oak, which went into receivership in 1999, according to Cormier.
Kinross acquired the mine assets in 2002. With the combined knowledge of the area's mineralization, it was just a matter of finding an economical way to get it out of the ground.
"It was one of the drivers of the joint venture between Kinross and Placer Dome," says Cormier. "We had the equipment (Placer Dome) and they had the land package."
Placer Dome's share is 51 percent and Kinross holds 49 percent.
As the Dome pit reaches the end of its active life this fall, preparation for the Pamour site is underway, part of which involves an expansion of the processing mill.
Bill St. Onge, PJV open pit superintendent, says the Dome pit will finish in October 2005.
"We found more ore (at the Dome site), so we'll be able to do more pre-stripping on the Pamour," he says. "We won't have to start supplying ore (from the Pamour site) until August or September."
In order to accommodate the excavation, they are building a new 6.2 km portion of Highway 101 East to extend around the site, and plans are in process to move the top portion of Three Nations Lake next summer.
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The total cost for the project to operate and develop the project over its life is about $800 million, according to Cormier.
"Most of it is spent through wages, salary and equipment," he says. "It will be $82 million in capital to start the project, and approximately $750 million of ongoing capital and operating costs over 10 years."
Although PJV covers about 90 percent of the construction themselves, the project has generated a significant amount of work for local contractors and engineering firms.
The PJV mine expansion has also helped sustain jobs for workers in the Dome mine, maintaining 160 long-term jobs in the pit itself, says St. Onge.
The Pamour's grade of gold will average 1.37 grams/tonne over the eight-year life of the mine, generating 39 million tonnes of ore overall. The underground Hoyle mine averages between 11-15g/tonne - high-grade gold.
For 2006, PJV plans to process 3.6 million tonnes of ore with a grade of 1.66g/tonne, according to St. Onge.
He estimates once the high grade material has been processed, there will be approximately 12 million tonnes of medium- and low-grade ore in the stock piles, which are expected to be depleted by 2024.
