Mid-Tier Miner is Big on “Safe” Production at Black Fox Mine
Calling Brigus Gold Corporation a “mid-tier” mining company is technically correct based on its $117 million in gold sales last year, but a visit to its Black Fox gold mine near Matheson, Ontario, quickly gives the impression there’s a big-time operator running the show.
From its guarded gates, to the mine’s streamlined administrative centre, to its vast open pit that dominates a large portion of the 32-acre site, the Black Fox gold mine is an impressive and highly functional operation.
The mine is, quite frankly, a picture-perfect operation carved discretely into a Northern Ontario landscape and tucked out of sight of passersby on Highway 101, a major route in the Timmins area near the Quebec border.
In fact, the Black Fox mine is unlike many ‘mid-tier’ mining projects in that its main focus is on being a good and safe neighbour, followed closely by being highly productive, then, what is hard to believe given the nature of mining… clean.
A scrap of paper or a coffee cup blowing in the wind would be cause for any of the mine’s 330 workers to stop what they’re doing to pick it up. In fact, according to Steve Poliquin, General Foreman for the open pit operation, “Anyone caught driving ‘past’ any debris is ‘reminded’ later that safety starts with keeping the mine clean, regardless of how small a thing it (like picking up a piece of paper), may involve.
“I know that picking up small objects may sound like an exaggeration and a waste of time, but we feel that by instilling that basic responsibility into everyone on the site will carry over to the way they look at everything else they do.”
For example, Poliquin is proud of the care the company’s machine operators show towards the equipment. “All of the operators treat the machines as if they were their own and at the end of their shifts, they spend extra time cleaning them so (jokingly), they won’t become known as a ‘slob’ to the next driver.”
Light maintenance is also part of every operator’s daily routine and while Poliquin says there are a number of equipment distributors who provide contract maintenance for major servicing and repairs, it’s mostly the operators themselves who check and correct fluid levels, tire pressures, and look for signs of potential problems.
“Maintaining the machines is obviously important to the production at the mine but it’s also in the way the machines are operated that has such an impact on the safety of the operation,” said Poliquin.
Graham Reid, the mine’s Safety and Training Supervisor, says he’s proud of the way the crews work with safety in mind but admits that it’s an on-going commitment to make sure that each and every person on site doesn’t get complacent in their duties, or with their surroundings.
“As of June 30th (2013) we’ve had 3,949,938 man hours worked without a lost-time injury and we’re proud of that! But that doesn’t mean we take safety for granted. Each month we conduct mandatory safety-themed workshops where we focus on different topics. In June, the safety theme was “Workplace Violence and Harassment” where each crew and (administrative) workgroup viewed a presentation on the company’s violence and harassment policies, said Reid.
“Every worker also filled out a risk assessment questionnaire which will be used to determine if there are problem areas in the workplace. The workers also viewed a video from the Ministry of Labour detailing the rights workers are guaranteed under the Ontario Health and Safety Act concerning violence and harassment.”
Far from the classroom but again, not from the focus on safety, Mike Wereszczynsky, Manager of Mining, says the Black Fox mine is a busy place with three excavators, six CAT 777 90-tonne haul trucks, and three drills, crushers, and ancillary equipment all working at once.
Like most mines in Canada, the Black Fox property had been in operation before. In fact, the property was first explored by Dominion Gulf in 1952 when it was known as the Glimmer Mine and then by Hollinger in 1962. In 1988, Glimmer Mine Inc put together a property package using a combination of Crown lands and private lands and in 1989 Noranda Exploration Company enter into a joint venture with Glimmer.
As a result of that agreement, Noranda held a 6o per cent interest in the property and during their ownership, Noranda merged with Hemlo Gold Mines Inc and in typical fashion within the mining industry, another player, Exall Resources Ltd, came along in 1996 and purchased 60 per cent of the property from Hemlo Gold and Glimmer Resources held the remaining 40 per cent.
The Glimmer Mine ceased operation in 2001 after producing approximately 211,000 ounces of gold. A predecessor company of Brigus Gold purchased the property and mine in 2002 and renamed the property as Black Fox.
“From 2003 to 2007, we completed drill programs of 504 surface diamond drill holes totaling 149,548 metres and 396 underground holes totaling 78,644 metres, and we supplemented that information with data from 286 surface and 707 underground holes drilled by the previous owners,” said Wereszczynsky.
In total, the Black Fox deposit has a high degree of geological data with more than 230,000 m of core, much of which still remains on site today. Black Fox still has great exploration potential as the orebody remains open for expansion along strike and down dip. Orebodies in the region, along the Destor Porcupine Fault, often extend to depths of more than 1,000 metres. Drilling results from early 2013 demonstrate the excellent potential to significantly expand gold reserves and increase the life of mine at Black Fox.
The Company also has excellent exploration potential just 4km away at its Grey Fox Property. In July of this year the Company announced an updated independent NI 43-101 resource estimate for the 147, Contact and Grey Fox South Zones. Brigus continues to drill these zones as they all remain open for future expansion. Given the close proximity to Black Fox, the Grey Fox property has great potential for near term growth.
Increasing production at Black Fox has been a top priority for Marc Bilodeau, Brigus Gold Vice-president, and his team. This past quarter the company announced that it will increase its production guidance to 95,000 – 105,000 ounces of gold for 2013 while at the same time focusing on cost management and safety.
What makes the Black Fox mine somewhat unusual in design is that the portal to its underground workings is located at the 235 m level of the pit which, according to Wereszczynsky, saved the company a great deal of money when it came to accessing the deeper gold deposits outside of the pit’s footprint.
During 2012, a total of 9,061 metres of development, a 15 degree ramp, lateral, and access to ore was done by on-site underground development crews. J.S. Redpath of North Bay also worked with the crews to help with the development on both east and west ramps.
Randy Demers, Redpath’s Area Manager, Timmins, said that in April of 2011, Redpath was awarded the development package that included approximately 3400 metres of ramp and lateral development in the East Main Ramp area.
“In May 2011, we began the mobilization of workers and equipment to site. A Redpath “Project Kickoff” meeting followed, attended by our workers and management team along with representation from the Brigus management team to officially start this portion of the Brigus Black Fox Mine,” said Demers.
“By the end of the 18 month project
, we achieved over 3800 metres of development while realizing a Zero Lost Time Injury frequency. This was soundly accomplished by experienced underground workers, plus a good number of workers who were new to mining who required the basic fundamentals of mining training. Proudly, following the completion of this project, these same novice workers moved onto other projects within the Redpath group as experienced miners.”
While at the Black Fox Mine, Redpath was also awarded a raise project for 4 internal raises covering approximately 139 metres. Not unlike the development ramp work, this additional work was also completed without sustaining a “Lost Time Injury.”
Demers said that over the duration of mine contracting for the Black Fox project, his company worked closely with the Wahgoshig First Nation to employ First Nation workers throughout the project.
“The relationship between the Brigus management team, the Wahgoshig First Nation, and Redpath was responsible for a very successful project for all three parties,” said Demers.
Thanks to the ramp and raise work, underground ore is being produced using long hole, cut and fill, and narrow vein mining methods and is expected to reach 1,000 tpd by Q4 of 2013.
Mike Wereszczynsky says, “Mining of underground ore is performed using all company-owned equipment and miners including four LHD units, two 50-tonne haul trucks, three 30-tonne push-box trucks, three jumbo drills, four scissor lifts for ground control installations, and several other pieces of support equipment.”
Backfilling is a combination of mine waste rock mixed with a Portland slurry mix done underground. Waste rock is also used as backfill in mined-out areas where cement is not needed.
Ore from both the open pit and underground mine is crushed on site to -150 mm and transported by a fleet of highway haulage trucks a distance of 35 km west on Highway 101 towards Timmins.
Jim Montague, Manager of the Black Fox Mill, says, “The ore from the mine(s) is stockpiled at the mill site and fed via a conveyor system to the crushing circuit with a crushing capacity to a maximum of 160 tonnes per hour, where it is reduced from less than 150 millimetres through three stages of crushing to less than 10 millimetres.
“The crushed ore is then transferred to a 1500-tonne, fine-ore storage bin where it is then fed into a fine grinding circuit at a rate of 2200 tonnes per day through two stages of closed-circuit ball milling.”
Montague went on to explain that soluble gold is recovered by absorption upon granular activated carbon in CIC, CIL, and CIP trains at an efficiency rate of 90 to 95 per cent. Gold is recovered from the carbon in a high-temperature strip vessel in a closed circuit with electro-winning deposition.
Gold plate, says Montague, is further refined by induction smelting and cast in 1,000 ounce molds before shipment to the refinery.
Marc Bilodeau, Vice-president, Black Fox Mine and Mill Operations, says. “I am very proud of the Brigus Gold Team. We have an extremely talented group of Managers, Supervisors and workers that help us maintain Safe Production at all times.
“Safe Production” is our motto we live by. At this time we are achieving record production and doing it safely.”
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