MEXICO - Mining and heap leaching have begun at the Ocampo gold-silver mine of GAMMON LAKE RESOURCES. The project, in Chihuahua, is expected to average 170,000 oz of gold and 6.2 million oz of silver annually.
Initial production comes from the Conico open pit. Since November 2005, Gammon Lake has been developing 13 km of pit roads, and has started placing low-grade and high-grade ore on the stockpile. To-date, approximately 40,000 tonnes of ore have been stacked on the pad, and it is now under leach.
The 7.0-million-tonnes/year primary crusher is operating and feeding the 6,000-tonne/day high-grade secondary/tertiary crushing facility that was commissioned in early January 2006. With 58-million tonnes of minable ore, Gammon Lake will be in continuous heap leach pad preparation for the next 12 years to remain one year ahead of its ore stacking needs.
The 7,000-tonnes/day low-grade secondary crushing line will be completed during the first half of this month at which time the mine will deliver 13,000 tonnes per day to the heap leach crushing facilities. Head grades will be 1.8 g/t AuEq. Cyanide solution irrigation began on Jan. 20.
Construction is underway of the mill facilities for processing the underground ore. The foundry portion of the mill is nearing completion for the first gold/silver pour, and construction of the remaining mill components is proceeding.
Gammon Lake is headquartered in Dartmouth, N.S., and has a website at www.GammonLake.com.
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