GOLD MINING: Young-Davidson pours first dor bar

ONTARIO – AuRico Gold of Toronto is ramping up to commercial production at the Young-Davidson gold mine near Kirkland Lake following the first gold pour at the end of April 2012. Commercial production is expected to be declared early in Q3 2012.

Wet commissioning of the mill was complete by the end of March and then ore was introduced. Between April 19 and April 29, the mill averaged approximately 5,000 t/d, excluding one day of scheduled maintenance. Importantly, a number of days at throughputs near the 2012 design capacity of 6,000 t/d have been achieved. AuRico says it has a six-month supply of ore stockpiled.

Commercial production will be declared once the processing plant averages a minimum of 5,100 t/d over a 30-day period and the open pit averages 29,750 t/d of ore and waste mining over a 30-day period.

AuRico became the owner of the Young-Davidson project when it acquired Northgate Minerals in October 2011. Read up on all of the companies operations at AuRicoGold.com.