TORONTO (miningweekly.com) - Canada's second biggest gold-miner, Goldcorp, is "looking at everything", as it considers the next stages of development at its historic Red Lake gold camp, in north-west Ontario, CEO Chuck Jeannes said on Thursday.

The firm has reactivated plans to mine high-grade deposits at its old Cochenour mine and the contiguous and down-dip Bruce Channel Deposit (BCD), and is considering how this project will tie up with future expansions and a potential surface mine at the flagship Red Lake operation.

Goldcorp acquired the high-grade BCD in 2008, when it bought junior Gold Eagle Mines, but the project was one of several put on hold later in the year, after metals prices slumped and liquidity became a top priority for miners.

Now that conditions have improved, dewatering of the Cochenour shaft will begin immediately, and Goldcorp plans to complete a prefeasibility study and start early development next year.

The main decision to be made is how to access the deposit, said COO Steve Reid.

Gold Eagle had planned to sink a shaft on Mackenzie island, but this could create logistical difficulties and is no longer neccessary, because Goldcorp would have the option of putting a shaft on its own mainland property.

However, the company is also looking at potentially enlarging the existing Cochenour shaft, and then installing a new internal winze, to access deeper areas.

A further possibility being considered is a high-speed underground access across from the Red Lake mine, Reid said.

Goldcorp is also considering a broad span of options for processing the ore from Cochenour.

Possibilities range from using the existing facilities at Red Lake, to potentially building an entirely new mill, which could process ore from Cochenour and a future open pit operation.

"We are actually looking at everything," Reid said.

"This is all part of a broader effort to optimise all of our assets in the Red Lake district for the long term."

The company has budgeted $6-million for surface drilling at Cochenour this year, and will start underground drilling from the existing shaft once dewatering is completed - likely only next year, Reid said.

Goldcorp's Red Lake gold mine is the largest in Canada, and one of the highest grade producers in the world.

Goldcorp has combined Red Lake with the equally high-grade Campbell mine - formerly owned by Placer Dome but acquired from Barrick Gold in 2006 - and is considering adding an open pit to potentially lift output from the complex to one-million ounces a year.

The third mine in the camp, Cochenour, closed in 1971.

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