By 2018, another gold mine could be in production in Timmins, a small city in Ontario, Canada, according to Greg Romain, CEO of Gowest Gold Limited (CVE:$GWA). At the recent Canadian Mining Expo, Romain updated the wide audience on the company’s Bradshaw mine site, “Gowest is a Canadian company. Everybody knows about us. We’re trying to develop the next new mine in Timmins.”
Part of Gowest’s North Timmins Gold Project (NTGP), the Bradshaw deposit is located on an area of land just off Highway 655. With more than 100 square kilometers of land thanks to the NTGP, Gowest is set on continuing the evaluation of the area and exploring additional gold targets around the Bradshaw deposit.
The company’s interest in Bradshaw dates all the way back to the 1960s when magnetic aerial surveys were done after the discovery of the Kidd mine. The Kidd mine turned out to be the world’s deepest base-metal mine below sea level; it is currently owned and operated by Glencore (LON:$GLEN). As such, Bradshaw currently has indicated resources estimated at 2.1 million tons grading 6.19 grams per ton of gold (g/t Au) containing 422,000 ounces (oz) Au, as well as inferred resources of 3.6 million tons grading 6.7 g/t Au containing 755,000 oz Au. Additionally, based on a pre-feasibility study (PFS) made by Stantec Mining on June 9, 2015, Bradshaw consists of mineral reserves in the probable category. Using a 3 g/t Au and utilizing a gold price of US$1,200/oz, the reserve totals 1.8 million tons grading 4.82 g/t Au for 277,000 oz Au. With these numbers, Gowest’s gold mine will no doubt be a benefit for the company and those with gold investments.
On May 25th, Gowest completed its first blast to the deposit, beginning its drive underground. According to Gowest, the main ramp is now being developed, and ongoing definition drilling will continue in order to find the promising zones that had been previously identified by a PFS.
After a visit underground, Romain informed conference crews that they are about 60 meters into the face of the mine, and are expected to hit mineralized zone after a few months, at 300 meters. The goal is to begin commercial production by 2018, says Romain. He explains the process, citing it to be very simple: they will begin with a bulk sample, move to pre-production, and then straight into production. To aid in the process of production, Gowest plans to obtain 50% ownership of the Redstone mill located south of Timmins. Before the bulk sample can go into the mill, the company is planning on making use of an ore sorting machine in order to get rid of waste rock. Romain explained the advantage of this process, quoted in the Sudbury Star, “What that’s going to do is when we crush the ore, we will increase the grade from about five grams up to about 10 to 12 grams before it goes to the mill. It rejects about 60% of the waste rock.”
For those interested in making gold investments through stock, Gowest’s stock is up 29% year to date, trading at about 20 cents a share. On the Venture exchange, the company’s market value is currently at $59.4 million.
Featured Image: gowestgold
