TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Precious metals producer Primero Mining expects to replace full-year production with drilling from the first half of 2015 at its Black Fox complex, in Ontario, and the cornerstone San Dimas mine, in Mexico, owing to strong exploration results.

At the Black Fox complex, which TSX- and NYSE-listed Primero gained through its $220-million Brigus Gold acquisition in March last year, the company reported highlight drill holes that intersected 16.1 g/t of gold over 8.8 m, 11 g/t of gold over 10 m and 9 g/t of gold over 11.7 m at the Deep Central zone.

The strong grades encountered at Deep Central justified the continued development of ramp access.

Primero on Monday reported that it had approved a $6.1-million capital expenditure programme to develop the ramp down to the 640 m level, with management expecting access late this year and to potentially start mining the Deep Central zone in 2016.

CEO Joseph Conway noted that the results at depth were encouraging as they pointed to mineralisation between the current production level at 560 m down to the 800 m level. “As we continue to drill deeper at Black Fox we are encountering higher average grades and wider continuity, which is very promising for the future of the mine,” he noted.

The Deep Central zone had a current estimated average grade of about 8.5 g/t and a gold resource of 160 000 oz. The Deep Central zone remained open along strike and at depth.

At San Dimas, the Jessica vein continued to show strong grades with highlight drill holes exhibiting 47.2 g/t of gold and 5 994 g/t of silver over 4.6 m, and 59.3 g/t of gold and 7 992 g/t of silver over 2.3 m.

So far, Jessica had shown an average grade of 10 g/t of gold and 1 500 g/t of silver. The vein was not included in the year-end resource estimate, but had come into the 2015 mine plan and was expected to provide about 5% of San Dimas’s total mill feed in 2015. The current reserve grade at San Dimas was 5.7 g/t of gold and 352 g/t of silver.

Primero, in 2014, reported record full-year output of 225 100 gold equivalent ounces – 57% higher than 2013.