https://www.northernminer.com/
The Windfall gold project in Quebec, boosted last week by a $600-million investment by Gold Fields (NYSE: GFI; JSE: GFI), may tweak plans to increase first-year production by a third, founding partner Osisko Mining (TSX: OSK) says.
The equal partnership would extend the undergound project’s ramp currently planned to run 630 metres deep to 800 metres instead, accessing ore grading about 9.1 grams gold per tonne rather than 8.1 grams, which could lift annual output to 400,000 oz. in contrast to 306,000 oz. in last year’s feasibility study, chairman and CEO John Burzynski said in a phone interview.
“It’s in the interest of both Gold Fields and ourselves to look at scheduling some of the higher-grade material earlier,” Burzynski said. “They won’t require any changes to the mill design, so it won’t interfere with permitting.”
Windfall, one of the highest-grade unbuilt projects in Canada, was advanced by the same team at Osisko who started production at Canadian Malarctic, now Canada’s largest gold-producing mine, run by Agnico Eagle Mines (TSX: AEM; NYSE: AEM). Burzynski and his team saw the potential in Windfall, which is in the Abitibi belt about 700 km northwest of Montreal, after previous owners had mis-interpreted the geology.
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