Tag Archives: Hemlo

Barrick tasks Barminco with turning Hemlo into Tier Two UG gold mine

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More than four months after Barrick Gold announced it intended to phase out open-pit mining and move to an underground contract mining model at its Hemlo operations in Ontario, Canada, a contract miner has been named.

Perenti confirmed its underground hard-rock contract mining subsidiary, Barminco, had received the nod from the gold miner, being issued a letter of intent to provide underground contract mining services at the mine, which has produced more than 21 Moz of gold over 30 years of operation.

Under the proposed three-year, circa-A$200 million ($131 million) mining services contract, Barminco will “bring industry-leading technology and productivity to Hemlo in support of Barrick’s goal to modernise and improve the performance of the mine and establish it as a Tier Two asset within its group”, ASX-listed Perenti said.

Barrick previously said the modernisation and refocusing plan at Hemlo was designed to turn it into a Tier Two asset with a life of mine well into the future.

Barminco’s scope includes undertaking mine development, production and haulage, using mining equipment provided by Barrick. Up until recently there was a significant degree of autonomy in the Hemlo fleet including trucks and LHDs from Sandvik and Epiroc.

Barminco said it anticipates employing more than 300 people at the operation, with works commencing in April.

Perenti Group Managing Director, Mark Norwell, said the contract award was another significant step in the group’s international growth strategy to enter attractive and stable mining jurisdictions.

“This is Barminco and Perenti’s first significant contract in North America and builds on our regional growth capabilities, after expanding into Botswana last year with an A$800 million contract. We look forward to supporting Barrick to deliver outstanding results at Hemlo,” he said.

Underground Chief Executive Officer, Paul Muller, said: “We are thrilled to be in a position to support Barrick to improve the performance of the Hemlo mine. We intend to work very closely with Barrick and all key stakeholders, including the incumbent workforce at Hemlo, the Pic River and Pic Mobert First Nations people and the Marathon community more generally to deliver a sustainable improvement in performance, thereby assuring the future of Hemlo.”

Harte Gold to go commercial at Sugar Zone mine in Ontario

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Harte Gold has been given the go ahead by the government of Ontario to start commercial production at its Sugar Zone mine, paving the way for full-scale output of 1,400 t/d in 2021.

This approval means the company is fully permitted to mine, process ore and pour gold on site at Sugar Zone.

Even though Harte has only just received provincial signoff for Sugar Zone’s commercial plan, it has been busy on site where it has already completed a 70,000 t advanced bulk sample, mined 30,000 t of ore under a Phase 1 Commercial Production permit and built an 800 t/d processing plant.

With this permit ticked off, the company can now proceed with its commercial production plan. This envisages a start-up of operations at 540 t/d at Sugar Zone, increasing to 800 t/d in the December quarter of 2019 and, subsequently, to 1,400 t/d from January 2021.

A preliminary economic assessment envisaged the total upfront capital cost at C$58 million ($45 million) and production, from 2019, of 80,700 oz/y at an all-in sustaining cost of $708/oz over an 11-year mine life.

This would see 904,000 oz of total recovered gold production over the mine life, approximately two thirds of the combined indicated and inferred resources announced back in February, Harte noted in the PEA.

In the latest press release, Harte Gold said full commissioning of the mill complex was nearing completion, while testing of the crushing and conveyance system was complete. Water had been successfully circulated through the mill and the power line to site was built, with all electrical equipment delivered and installed.

Underground development work, meanwhile, continues to exceed targeted rates, Harte said.

“For the month of July, 254 m of development was completed, or 8.2 m/d. Development completed to-date has opened up several areas in the Sugar Zone deposit, particularly in the near-surface Upper Zone area, to provide early high-grade stopes,” the company said. Redpath Canada is helping the company out with underground development.

The February resource statement showed indicated resources of 714,200 oz of contained gold averaging 8.52 g/t and 760,800 oz of inferred resources grading 6.59 g/t.