Name: Young-Davidson mine.
Location: The Young-Davidson gold mine is located near the town of Matachewan, about 60 km west of Kirkland Lake, in Northern Ontario, Canada, in the south-western part of the Abitibi greenstone belt.
Controlling Company: Alamos Gold.
Brief History: The Young-Davidson openpit mine achieved commercial production on September 1, 2012. On October 31, 2013, Alamos declared commercial production at the Young-Davidson underground mine following the commissioning of the shaft hoisting system.
Openpit mining ceased in June 2014 upon the depletion of the reserve; however, stockpiled openpit ore will supplement mill feed until underground production rates have ramped up to design levels of 8 000 t/d.
Brief Description: The mine property comprises contiguous mineral leases and claims totalling 4 451 ha, and is situated on the site of two previously producing mines that produced one- million ounces from 1934 to 1957.
Products: Gold.
Geology/Mineralisation: Young-Davidson is situated within the south-western part of the Abitibi greenstone belt, one of the largest greenstone belts in the world, with historic production of 160-million ounces of gold.
The Abitibi consists of a complex and diverse array of volcanic, sedimentary and plutonic rocks typically metamorphosed to greenschist facies grade, but locally attaining amphibolite facies grade. Volcanic rocks range in composition from rhyolitic to komatiitic and commonly occur as mafic to felsic volcanic cycles. Sedimentary rocks consist of chemical and clastic varieties and occur as intravolcanic sequences and unconformably overlying sequences. A spectrum of mafic to felsic, pretectonic, syntectonic and post-tectonic intrusive rocks are present. All lithologies are cut by late, generally north-east-trending, proterozoic diabase dikes. Within the Abitibi lies the Kirkland-Larder Lake trend, home to several gold camps, including Young-Davidson, with combined historic production of 34-million ounces of gold.
Gold mineralisation at Young-Davidson is associated with a syenite intrusive rock (a quartz granite). Within this syenite, the gold mineralisation is associated with a stockwork of quartz veinlets and narrow quartz veins, rarely greater than a few centi- metres thick, which are within a broader halo of disseminated pyrite and potassic alteration. Historic mining demonstrated the continuity of mineralisation from surface to a depth of about 500 m. Mineralisation is known to extend beyond 1 500 m below surface (orebody open at depth); however, current drilling below this level will not be initiated until suitable underground drill platforms become available. Other mines along the Kirkland-Larder Lake trend have been mined to depths of more than 2 000 m.
Reserves: Proven and probable reserves as at December 31, 2014, were estimated at 45.27-million tonnes, grading 2.63 g/t of gold, including underground reserves of 42.77-million tonnes, grading 2.74 g/t of gold.
Resources: Measured and indicated resources as at December 31, 2014, were estimated at 15.68-million tonnes, grading 2.97 g/t of gold. Inferred resources were estimated at 3.64-million tonnes, grading 2.75 g/t of gold.
Mining Method: Underground.
Major Infrastructure and Equipment: Underground ore and stockpiled openpit ore is processed using an 8 000 t/d single- stage semiautogenous grinding and gravity circuit, followed by flotation. The flotation concentrate is further ground and leached in a conventional carbon-in-leach (CIL) plant. The flotation tailings are also leached in a CIL circuit. The gold is recovered from the carbon, followed by electrowinning and the pouring of doré bars. The Young-Davidson CIL tailings are treated with the sulphur dioxide/air cyanide destruction method. The paste backfill plant was commissioned in 2014 and can supply paste fill to the underground voids at a rate of more than 8 000 t/d.
Prospects: Alamos is continuing with its core plan of completing the ramp-up of the underground ramp-up mining rates at Young-Davidson to 8 000 t/d. The company achieved its targeted underground mining rate of 6 000 t/d by the end of 2015 and expects mining rates to increase to a rate of 7 000 t/d by the end of 2016.
Contact Person: Investor relations VP Scott K Parsons.
Contact Details:
Alamos Gold,
tel +1 416 368 9932 x 439,
fax +1 416 368 2934,
email sparsons@alamosgold.com, and
website http://www.alamosgold.com.