Golden again

Groundbreaking ceremonies are usually staged events where dignitaries use gold- plated shovels to toss a bit of dirt for the cameras, but at Northgate Minerals’ recent launch of its Young-Davidson mine near the town of Matachewan, about 60 km west of Kirkland Lake, officials went ‘big’ by turning the soil using a huge Hitachi excavator.

As Northgate President and CEO Ken Stowe said during the ceremony, it was only fitting to use the machine because it was already on site as part of a fleet of heavy equipment that is now working to build “Ontario’s next gold mine.”

The Young-Davidson property is not a new discovery. In fact, it dates back to the early 1930s when at least two mines produced more than one million ounces through a succession of companies including Hollinger Mines, Matachewan Consolidated, Royal Oaks Mine and Young-Davidson Mines.

But like many mining operations, the Young-Davidson property went through the boom and bust cycles of mining and it wasn’t until 2005, when Northgate Minerals bought the property for $18 million, that its future became clearer.

Northgate Minerals was determined to bring gold mining back to Matachewan and the historic Abitibi Greenstone Belt of Central Ontario, and thanks to its ample financial resources, it’s now making things happen.

With more than $100 million of a planned $375 million already invested into the project, Northgate Minerals is now overseeing the construction of several new structures on the site, including the preparation work for the sinking of a new 6.5 m diameter shaft to the 1500 m level.

The mine’s existing shaft will also be drilled to a new depth and will eventually be used to service the new underground operations.

Access to the underground mine will be through a ramp that will be sunk 460 m from the current exploration ramp to the bottom of the mine. Sublevels at 60 m vertical intervals will access the shrinkage mining method. The sublevels will access other methods of intervals of 30 m. Scooptrams will load stope production and transfer it to the ore pass system, and hoisting will be carried out using 18 Mt skips.

A new mill will be fed at a rate of 2.16 Mt/yr from the mine’s existing open pit using traditional methods including 5 m benches, 8 m3 front-end loaders, 55 tonne haul trucks, drills and support equipment. After the pit is exhausted (estimated in about two years) the base of the open pit will be connected to the underground deposit located between 210 m and 1500 m below surface.

The Young-Davidson Gold Mine has proven and probable reserves (open pit) of 8.4 Mt and proven and probable reserves of 22.7 Mt (underground). The mine is expected to produce an average of 180,000 oz of gold during its estimated life of 15 years.