Name: Lagunas Norte mine.
Location: Lagunas Norte is located on the Alto Chicama property, in north-central Peru, 140 km east of the coastal city of Trujillo, and 175 km north of Barrick Gold’s Pierina mine.
Controlling Company: The project is owned and operated by Minera Barrick Misquichilca (MBM), a wholly owned Peruvian subsidiary of Barrick Gold Corporation. The mine is part of the Alto Chicama property. A 2.51% net smelter royalty is paid to Peruvian State-owned company Activos Mineros, formerly Centromin Peru (Centromin).
Brief History: MBM started a field programme at Alto Chicama in March 2001, which included geologic mapping, geochemical sampling and ground geophysics. This work resulted in the identification of targets for drill testing. Drilling started in mid-2001 and the initial programme identified the Las Lagunas Norte area as justifying detailed follow-up. Subsequent drilling was concentrated in the Las Lagunas Norte area. On April 2, 2004, the Alto Chicama environmental-impact assessment received regulatory approval and, on April 12, 2004, the plant construction authorisation was granted, authorising MBM to construct and install the Alto Chicama process plant and related facilities.
Construction started in 2004 and the first ton of ore was placed on the leach pad in March 2005. First pour was realised in June 2005.
Brief Description: Lagunas Norte is a large openpit, heap-leach gold and silver mine in the high Andean Cordillera. Operations include openpit mining of gold/silver ore and the crushing and extraction of precious metals using heap leaching and Merrill-Crowe recovery.
Geology/Mineralisation: The regional geology is dominated by a thick sequence of Mesozoic marine clastic and carbonate sedimentary rocks, which are bounded to the west by the Mesozoic to Early Tertiary Coastal Batholith and to the east by the Precambrian metamorphic rocks of the Marañón complex. The Mesozoic sequence has been affected by at least one stage, and possibly two stages, of deformation during the Andean Orogeny. The volcanic rocks of the Tertiary Calipuy group unconformably overlie the Mesozoic rocks.
Mineralisation is the result of multiple volcanic and hydrothermal events. It occurs in the south-east portion of the Alto Chicama property and is hosted in the Tertiary volcanics of the Calipuy group and the underlying Cretaceous sedimentary rocks of the Chimú formation. The deposit is locally faulted by relatively steeply dipping structures and is primarily controlled by stratigraphy and lithologic contacts.
The mineralisation within the present pit extends for about 2 km in a north-northwest direction by about 2 km in an east-northeast direction and for more than 200 m vertically. Most of the mineralisation occurs as oxide material, with an estimated 25% occurring as sulphide material.
A significant characteristic of the Lagunas Norte deposit is the variable carbonaceous content found within the siliclastic sedimentary strata.
Reserves: Total proven and probable reserves as at December 31, 2013, were 100.09-million tons grading 0.037 g/t of gold.
Resources: Total measured resources as at December 31, 2013, were 1.43-million tons grading 0.022 g/t of gold. Indicated resources were 35.82-million tons grading 0.02 g/t of gold. Inferred resources were 5.22-million tons grading at 0.021 g/t of gold.
Products: Gold.
Mining Method: The Lagunas Norte mine is a traditional openpit truck-and-shovel, heap-leach operation.
Major Infrastructure and Equipment: Owing to its remote location, the Lagunas Norte property is self-sufficient with regard to the infrastructure needed to support the operation.
The Lagunas Norte mine has been designed to support an operation providing 63 000 t/d of ore for a heap-leach facility and mining a nominal 140 000 t/d of total material.
Site infrastructure includes the openpit; heap-leach pads; crushing facilities; a Merrill Crowe recovery plant; on-site facilities, including a safety/security/first aid/emergency-response building, an assay laboratory, a plant guard house, dining facilities and offices; related mine services, including a truckshop, a truck-wash facility, a warehouse, fuel storage and distribution facilities, reagent storage and distribution facilities.
Permanent accommodations, located about 3 km east and downslope of the Lagunas Norte openpit operations, are available for all Lagunas Norte employees and visitors.
The water for process and mining consumption is delivered from rain captured on two small lakes. A water management group is in place to carry out all dewatering, including pumping, distribution, delivery, and disposal.
Electricity is provided by a privately owned generation company and delivered to Lagunas Norte through a high-voltage power line connected to the national grid, in Trujillo.
Prospects: In 2014, the Lagunas North mine is expected to produce between 570 000 oz and 610 000 oz, processing more ore tons at lower grades, compared with the grades processed in 2013. The increase in ore tons is mainly owing to higher fleet availability, following the transfer of equipment from Barrick’s Pierina mine, which moved into closure in 2013.
Contact Person: Investor relations.
Contact Details:
Barrick Gold Corporation,
Tel +1 416 861 9911,
Email investor@barrick.com, and
Website http://www.barrick.com.