TMAC Resources announces commercial production
The TMAC Resources Doris Mine and mill complex on the 100%-owned Hope Bay property located 65 km east of Bathurst Inlet in the Kitikmeot region of Nunavut, northern Canada. Source TMAC Resources Inc.
TMAC Resources Inc. [TMR-TSX] reported that commercial production has been achieved, effective May 15, 2017, at its Doris Mine and mill complex situated on the 100%-owned Hope Bay property located in the Kitikmeot region of Nunavut, northern Canada.
The processing plant has operated at an average in excess of 60% of its 1,000 tonnes per day (tpd) name plate capacity over a 45-day period, and at an average of over 80% of capacity from May 4 to 15. The company continues to make improvements and optimizations to operations that will enable ramp up to steady state throughput of 1,000 tpd.
As the throughput increases in the processing plant, the tonnes of ore brought to surface from underground mining will also be increased. In addition, TMAC Resources is focusing on optimizing recoveries, which have yet to reach expected levels. As improved recoveries are achieved, a transition to higher grade feed from the currently blended, lower grade stockpile ore will be fed to the processing plant.
The Hope Bay Project is a high-grade gold deposit with established measured and indicated mineral resources totaling approximately 4.5 million ounces of gold at an average grade of 9.2 g/t gold and inferred resources totaling approximately 1.4 million ounces of gold at an average grade of 7.4 g/t gold, and with recently established proven and probable mineral reserves totaling approximately 3.5 million ounces of gold at an average grade of 7.7 g/t gold.
Catharine Farrow, CEO of TMAC Resources stated, “Achieving commercial production is a significant achievement of which our entire team is proud. It is a great step toward achieving steady state operations at our Doris Mine and mill complex, which is the first step in our plans to funding the development of the Madrid and Boston deposits. We are proud of the work and dedication of our employees, contractors and consultants as we complete the transformation of TMAC to a producing company and position ourselves for the next phase of growth at Madrid.”
The Madrid and Boston properties are expected to commence production in 2020 and 2022, respectively.