TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Precious metals producer Primero Mining has revealed plans to boost output from its newly acquired Black Fox mine, in the Timmins gold district of Ontario.

The Toronto-based firm on Thursday said that the property, which it acquired last month through the $220-million friendly takeover of rival Brigus Gold, had historically been owned by a number of under-capitalised junior gold producers.

The mine had an irregular production history until 2012 when long-hole mining was introduced and in 2013 the mine produced 98 710 oz of gold.

In 2014 and beyond, the company said it planned to test the full lateral and depth potential of the Black Fox underground mine, which could extend the overall mine-life.

Primero would increase exploration and delineation drilling and exploration drifting at Black Fox in order to open new mining faces and expand underground production. More underground equipment would be bought in 2014 to increase productivity.

The company said it aimed to produce about 1 000 t/d from the Black Fox underground operation by the end of the year.

Primero would also start a surface exploration programme to drill the east and west extension of the openpit, which is currently in its third push back, with the objective of extending the openpit life.

The Grey Fox property, located 4 km south-east of the Black Fox mine, was reported to have produced “promising” exploration results and already contained 500 000 oz at 3.7 g/t of gold in the compliant indicated category.

Primero last month raised $9-million in a flow-through financing, in order to invest in an aggressive exploration programme at the Grey Fox and surrounding properties.

This year, Primero expects attributable production from the Black Fox mine to be between 70 000 oz and 80 000 oz of gold. Attributable cash costs for Black Fox were expected to be in the range of $850/oz to $900/oz.

This would result in total expected attributable production for Primero in 2014 of between 225 000 oz and 245 000 oz of gold equivalent. Primero's attributable cash costs for the year were expected to be in the range of $650/oz to $700/oz of gold equivalent.

Capital expenditures at the Black Fox complex were expected to total about $31.2-million, excluding capitalised exploration costs of $16.8-million. This results in total Primero capital expenditures in 2014 of $80-million excluding capitalised exploration costs of $35-million.

The Black Fox deposit has proven and probable reserves of 4.47-million tonnes grading 4.6 g/t for 660 800 oz.

Primero also announced the appointment of James Mallory as VP for corporate responsibility, effective March 1. Mallory is charged with the overall responsibility for occupational health and safety, environmental management, community relations and risk management.