Eagle Gold Mine Continues To Perform Strongly
Victoria Gold Corp. (TSX:VGCX) produced a better than expected 26,759 ounces of gold at its Eagle Gold Mine in Canada’s Yukon during the first quarter of 2021.
President and CEO, John McConnell, said gold production in Q1 2021 was slightly ahead of plan at 26,759 ounces, a 250% improvement over Q1 2020.
Ore mined increased by 175% compared to Q1 2020 and total tonnes mined increased by 250% versus Q1 2020. Both gold grade and metallurgical recovery continue to reconcile well against the Eagle reserve model and a significant gold inventory is building on the heap leach pad.
“During the first quarter, we have successfully completed the winter maintenance and upgrade programme, continued to irrigate the heap leach pad and pour gold and resumed stacking ore on the heap leach pad earlier than planned,” Mr McConnell said.
“The company has initiated a COVID-19 vaccination program at the Eagle site and effective health protection measures continue, with no suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19.”
The company’s seasonal operations plan for 2021 included curtailment of ore stacking on the heap leach pad during the 90 coldest days of the year, January through March.
During this time, maintenance and optimisation programmes on the crushing and stacking facilities were finalised with ore stacking resuming ahead of schedule.
The company has reiterated its 2021 production and cost guidance and reminds the reader that production will be weighted to the second half of 2021 with unit costs expected to fall with increasing production.
Gold production is estimated between 180,000 and 200,000 ounces
All-in Sustaining Costs (AISC) are estimated to be between US$1,050 and US$1,175 per oz
Mr McConnell said the company has initiated ‘Project 250’ aimed at increasing the average annual gold production of the Eagle Gold Mine to 250,000 ounces gold by 2023.
The two primary opportunities to increase production are the scalping of fine ore from the crushing circuit and adjusting the seasonal stacking plan.
Scalping of fine ore is expected to reduce wear and energy requirements as well as increase overall capacity of the crushing circuit.
Further investigation is underway on year-round stacking of ore to the heap leach pad. Early engineering on Project 250 is expected to be complete in the second half of 2021.
