Despite a rocky start on the road to production, the Golden Bear mine in northwestern British Columbia poured its first gold bar on Jan. 31. Sized at 360 tonnes per day, the mine is operated by North American Metals (TSE), which in turn is 73% owned by Homestake Mining (NYSE). Chevron Minerals holds the remaining interest.
Jack Thompson, president of North American Metals, told U.S. shareholders at a recent meeting in Oregon that although the project has overcome typical startup problems, it has not yet reached design capacity. He noted that some other difficulties, including roaster feed system inadequacies, should be resolved in the near future.
The milling process at Golden Bear involves dry grinding, fluidized bed roasting and carbon-in- pulp leaching to process the deposit’s refractory mineralization.
The Golden Bear project has been plagued by large capital cost overruns and higher-than-anticipated operating costs. Thompson emphasized the search for additional reserves will be the key to the success of the project.
The mine is processing stockpiled open pit reserves, but underground mining of higher-grade material is in progress. Open pit mining is confined to the summer months, but underground mining will take place year-round.
North American Metals recently withdrew its proposed shareholders’ rights issue because of a depressed stock price and other complications that would have kept U.S. shareholders from participating. An announcement is expected shortly regarding alternative financing methods.
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