VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – Gold producer TMAC Resources has achieved a significant permitting milestone for its Madrid and Boston gold deposits, after the Nunavut Impact Review Board and the Nunavut Water Board accepted the final environmental-impact statement and water licence applications and started a coordinated review of TMAC's mining proposal.
TMAC will now work through the coordinated review process in coordination with the Kitikmeot Inuit Association, Kitikmeot communities and government departments and expects to be granted new project certificates and water licences in 2018 and 2019, respectively.
"We already have an exploration permit to conduct surface exploration over the entire 80 km by 20 km Hope Bay gold belt. We also have advanced exploration permits which allow us to go underground at Madrid to extract a bulk sample and to reopen the portal at Boston to extract a bulk sample, where we have 3 km of underground infrastructure," executive chairperson Terry MacGibbon advised.
Once the project certificates and Type A water licences are obtained, the company will be able to put both Madrid and Boston into production.
TMAC, which on Tuesday announced the appointment of top Bank of Montreal mining banker Jason Neal as its new president and CEO, currently has permits in hand that will allow it to mine up to 5 600 t/d at Madrid and Boston.
TMAC is an emerging gold producer, with its Doris mine having poured first gold in the first quarter of 2017 and achieving commercial production in the second quarter of 2017. The company expects the Madrid and Boston deposits to start production in 2020 and 2022, respectively.