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Kirkland Lake

From luck to riches in Kirkland Lake – by Tijana Mitrovic (CIM Magazine – April 06, 2021)

https://magazine.cim.org/en/

An accidental discovery of gold that helped establish one of Canada’s most valuable mining camps and important newspapers

When William Henry “Bill” Wright came across a visible gold vein in Kirkland Lake in 1911, he could not have known that the deposit he had just found would become one of Canada’s most prosperous mining camps, home to seven gold mines.

Wright was born in the English town of Sleaford in 1876. He worked as a butcher’s apprentice before joining the British army in 1897, serving both at home and abroad during the Second Boer War.

He came to Canada 10 years later, and worked odd jobs in northern Ontario before going to the Cobalt and Porcupine mining camps. Along with his brother-in-law Ed Hargreaves, Wright headed to the Kirkland Lake region, where prospectors had previously searched for gold. They spent much of their time hunting for food as well as searching for promising ground to stake.

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Mining town keeps digging its way out of dire predictions – by Diane Armstrong (Timmins Daily Press – January 13, 2021)

https://www.timminspress.com/

In spite of the warnings that Northern Ontario would die “as soon as the ore runs out,” in my heart I always rejected that feeling of impermanence. The Pollyanna in me thinks there is still a bright future on the horizon.

In 1903, silver deposits were discovered in Cobalt. It was likely the most significant event in the history of Northern Ontario. At that time, the area was uninhabited wilderness.

By 1910, more than 3,000 men were employed in underground mining; the population of the town was 6,000 and nearby Haileybury had a population of 5,000. Depending on various sources, there were between 38 mines and/or 100 mines or mining companies in the Cobalt area.

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Kirkland Lake Gold boss calls 2020 performance ‘best year ever’ – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – January 13, 2021)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Pandemic-related challenges faced by the Kirkland Lake Gold team in 2020 have left the big boss suitably impressed. In reflecting on the past year, president-CEO Tony Makuch was pleased with the “solid results” in gold production in releasing the company’s fourth-quarter and full-year results.

The Toronto-headquartered gold miner reported all three of its cornerstone mines at Macassa and Detour Lake in northeastern Ontario, and Fosterville in Australia, achieved their highest production rates in the last quarter of 2020.

“Looking at our operating performance, in many respects our team had its best year ever in 2020,” said Makuch in a Jan. 12 news release.

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KL Gold sets sights on Timmins for regional office – by Andrew Autio (Timmins Daily Press – December 1, 2020)

https://www.timminspress.com/

Kirkland Lake Gold views Timmins as an integral part of the company’s future according to its president and chief executive officer Tony Makuch.

Makuch, a native of Timmins, has more than 30 years of experience as a mining engineer. He joined KL Gold in July 2016. Before that, he was the CEO of Lake Shore Gold from 2008 until 2016, when it was acquired by Tahoe Resources.

This past week, he was the guest speaker for the latest edition of The State of Mining — a series of discussions hosted by the Timmins Chamber of Commerce over the video conferencing platform Zoom.

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Flurry of exploration activity in Kirkland Lake gold camp – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – November 10, 2020)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

The Kirkland Lake area remains hot property for many junior miners drilling or acquiring property in the Abitibi region of northeastern Ontario. Meanwhile a cobalt plant developer is finetuning its strategy to bring a mothballed refinery back into production in the Temiskaming area.

Toronto’s Mistango River Resources started a 10,000-metres drilling campaign on its Kirkland West Project, just west of Kirkland Lake Gold’s Macassa Mine.

The plan is to explore multiple target areas on the property with the first holes going in near the former Baldwin Mine, where historical production yielded gold grades of 15 grams per tonne.

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Gold mining industry in Ontario during Q2 2020 – by Vladimir Basov (Kitco News – October 21, 2020)

https://www.kitco.com/

Gold production in Ontario in Q2 2020 declined by 17% over Q2 2019 due to suspensions related to COVID-19 crisis. Detour Lake was the largest gold mine in Ontario.

Ontario is the largest gold-producing Canadian province or territory. According to the Ontario Mining Association, the region produced 73,733 kilograms of gold in 2019, which equates to 2,371 thousand troy ounces of gold, or 42% of total gold produced in Canada.

Based on available quarterly corporate reports, Ontario produced 528 kozt of gold in Q2 2020 from primary gold mines and as a by-product of base metals and platinum group metals operations. This significant 17% decline over the corresponding period of 2019 (638 kozt) was primarily caused by suspensions related to COVID-19 crisis.

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More gold ‘yet to be discovered’ at Kirkland Lake’s Macassa Mine – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – October 20, 2020)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Exploration drilling at Macassa Mine continue to produce spectacular grades for Kirkland Lake Gold.

The Toronto-headquartered mining company released drill results from its exploration program in Kirkland Lake where the focus is on growing gold reserves at its South Mine Complex and finding more high-grade gold further out and deeper down along the unexplored zones around the Amalgamated Break.

In an Oct. 19 news release, the company said it’s seeing “extremely high-grade intersections” from its program to extend the South Mine Complex to the east and west, in identifying high-grade mineralization along the Amalgamated Break, and in identifying a new, high-grade corridor along Main Break near the location of its new No. 4 shaft.

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Gatling makes the connection with Larder Lake deposits: Exploration drilling proves three deposits are part of one gold system – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – September 22, 2020)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Gatling Resources has connected three high-grade deposits at its Larder Gold Project in northeastern Ontario, and can prove it’s all part of one large mineralized system.

The Vancouver junior miner claims it has successfully drilled gold mineralization between its Fernland and Cheminis deposits.

The company’s Larder Project hosts three high-grade gold deposits – Bear, Cheminis and Fernland – along the Cadillac-Larder Lake Break, 35 kilometres east of Kirkland Lake.

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Larder Lake junior miner using AI to find gold targets – by Staff (July 30, 2020)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Gatling Exploration contracts Windfall Geotek to dig through the data

Artificial intelligence (AI) will play a role in helping Gatling Exploration chase down some gold targets near the established mining camp of Kirkland Lake.

The Vancouver junior miner has engaged AI experts, Windfall Geotek, to use its advanced Computer Aided Resource Detection System (CARDS) to identify targets at the company’s Larder Gold project, 35 kilometres east of Kirkland Lake in McVittie and McGarry Townships.

Gatling said in a July 30 release that the targets will be evaluated and then explored using more traditional exploration techniques.

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Sudbury Accent: Northern Ontario’s mine sector could help Canada out of recession – by Stan Sudol (Sudbury Star – July 25, 2020)

(L to R) Antoine Schwartzmann, Stephen Stewart, Charles Beaudry, Keith Benn, Chitrali Sarkar – Kirkland Lake remains a promising place for future gold mines.

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Accent: Junior companies could lead the way

Who says mining is not sustainable? The recent announcement by IAMGOLD to start building a Cda $2 billion Cote Lake open-pit gold mine 140 km north of Sudbury — which will employ 1,000 workers during peak construction and roughly 450 full-time middle-class jobs — is welcome news. The mine life is expected to be around 18 years; however, ongoing exploration may extend the life of mine.

Vale’s Creighton Mine, which started production in 1901, is still going strong 8,000 feet below the surface. The deeper the company goes, the richer the nickel/copper and PGM content of the ore gets.

Kirkland Lake’s Macassa gold mine started production in 1933. With new discoveries at deeper levels and a roughly $320 million investment for a new mine shaft, Kirkland Lake Gold’s CEO Tony Makuch is extending the mine’s life for another 30 to 40 years.

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ESSAY/COLUMN – Orefinders Battles Mistango on Kirkland Lake’s Mile of Gold – Stan Sudol (July 23, 2020)

(L to R) Antoine Schwartzmann, Stephen Stewart, Charles Beaudry, Keith Benn, Chitrali Sarkar

Who says mining is not sustainable? The recent announcement by IAMGOLD to start building a C$2 billion Cote Lake open pit gold mine 140 km north of Sudbury which will employ 1,000 workers during peak construction and roughly 450 full-time middle-class jobs is welcome news. The mine life is expected to be around 18 years, however, ongoing exploration may extend the life of mine.

Vale’s Creighton mine which started production in 1901, is still going strong 8,000 feet below surface. The deeper the company goes, the richer the nickel/copper and PGM content of the ore gets. Kirkland Lake’s Macassa gold mine started production in 1933. With new discoveries at deeper levels and a roughly $320 million investment for a new mine shaft, Kirkland Lake Gold’s CEO Tony Makuch is extending the mine’s life for another 30 to 40 years!

Northern Ontario’s mining camps have seen many mines whose lifespans have lasted 50 years or much longer while hundreds of others with shorter operations have still provided tens of thousands of jobs and billions in economic activity for the Ontario economy over the past century.

Meanwhile car manufacturing at Oshawa’s General Motors plant started in 1907 and unfortunately closed in 2018, dealing a devastating blow to southern Ontario’s auto-focused economy. Similarly, in 2011, Ford Motor Company permanently closed its St. Thomas assembly plant that opened in 1967. Now there are rumour’s that Ford may be closing its giant auto assembly plant in Oakville.

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[Canadian Gold Mining/Exploration During Depression] The Trails of `34 – by Leslie McFarlane (MACLEAN’S Magazine – September 15, 1934)

https://archive.macleans.ca/

THE CARIBOO, the Yukon, the Porcupine—these fields have been the scenes of epic Canadian gold rushes. In each case the stage setting was colorful, the action dynamic. Each field had its peak year of raw drama. They were spectacular rushes, with an element of madness and frenzy. They belong to history.

And yet in sheer enormity, in point of men involved, money expended, wealth produced and in sight, not one of them could hold a candle to the great gold rush of ’34.

Men still speak of the Cariboo Trail and the Klondyke Trail. There can be no such convenient designation for the scene of this year’s great gold trek unless one refers in a general way to the ‘Trails of ’34. Because the scene is all Canada, and the trails lead to new fields and old. The effort is not concentrated upon a single area. The stage is so wide, so crowded with effects that the term “rush” may seem at first glance a misnomer. And yet from Nova Scotia to British Columbia, across the whole breadth of the Dominion, one of the greatest gold treks of all time is in full swing.

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Mistango River starts exploration at Eby-Baldwin project in Ontario – by Carl A. Williams (Northern Miner – June 8, 2020)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Mistango River Resources (CNSX: MIS) has developed a geological model for its 34-sq.-km Eby-Baldwin project, located 10 km west of Kirkland Lake in the historic “Mile of Gold” of the Kirkland Lake district in Ontario.

The model considers Eby-Baldwin in the broader context of the Kirkland Lake district and how the project relates to the adjacent Macassa mine owned by Kirkland Lake Gold (TSX: KL; NYSE: KL).

The company has been acquiring parcels of land in the area for some time and recently purchased two additional landholdings, the most significant of which is the 21 sq. km Teck-Kirkland property, purchased from Hinterland Metals (TSX: HMI). The acquisition in late March effectively doubled the size of the Elby-Baldwin project.

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How Gold Thieves Get Away With Millions – by Don Delaplante (MACLEAN”S Magazine – July 15, 1950)

https://archive.macleans.ca/

The high-grading racket has its roots deep in the rich mines of northern Canada. The payoff is sometimes in New York, or even Morocco, at the end of a trail of graft, hijacking and murder

ON JUNE 2 thieves blew the vault at the Delnite mine in Ontario’s famous Porcupine camp and carted off three newly poured gold bars worth $74,000. It was the biggest single robbery in Canadian mining history. And it was pulled off in spite of rumors of the coup which had been rampant for six weeks.

No single incident could more strikingly underline the great high-grading racket. The theft and smuggling of high-grade ore and gold cost Canadian mines more than $2 millions each year. It is bizarre, spectacular, cunning thievery marked by graft, hijacking and calculated murder. Its practitioners are masters of the double-cross; news of newly planned thefts often leaks out beforehand.

Its ramifications are international. Stolen Canadian gold usually winds up in the free world market in Paris or is sold privately in Central Europe or the Middle East at $40 an ounce. Three years ago (before Russia flooded the market) the price hit $100.

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Kirkland Lake remains a gold exploration hotbed – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – June 3, 2020)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Three gold exploration outfits working the Abitibi Greenstone Belt between Kirkland Lake and Larder Lake have drill rigs deployed this month in anticipation of more high-grade showings this summer.

Vancouver’s Gatling Exploration reported its highest grade of gold to date coming out of an ongoing exploration program at its Larder Lake Gold Project.

The company has been running an aggressive campaign since last September in establishing a mineral connection between three gold deposits on its property, 35 kilometres east of Kirkland Lake.

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