St. Andrew to put Taylor into commercial production
2015-11-05 09:42 ET - News Release
Mr. Duncan Middlemiss reports
SAS DECLARES COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION AT TAYLOR AND REVISES FULL YEAR PRODUCTION GUIDANCE TO BETWEEN 100,000 AND 110,000 OUNCES OF GOLD
The Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines (MNDM) has accepted the Taylor mine production closure plan and, as a result, St. Andrew Goldfields Ltd. is now able to put the Taylor mine into commercial production.
"We are pleased to declare Taylor the newest mine in Ontario, one which we anticipate will bolster the company's gold production profile for 2016 by 40,000 to 50,000 ounces, and provide much-needed jobs and economic benefits to the communities of the region. I would personally like to thank the SAS team, the provincial government officials, the first nations and our communities for their hard work and support in helping us bring Taylor into reality. The mine is expected to be a significant contributor in the future as we are ramping up to full production by the end of this year," said Duncan Middlemiss, president and chief executive officer of SAS. "With the addition of Taylor to the portfolio of producing assets, we are also pleased to raise our 2015 full year production guidance to between 100,000 and 110,000 ounces of gold with the Taylor mine contributing 10,000 to 15,000 ounces of gold for the balance of 2015."
Holt-Holloway
SAS production to the end of the third quarter of 2015 totalled 70,578 ounces of gold and is on schedule to meet the top end of the company's previous 2015 production guidance of between 85,000 and 95,000 ounces of gold. Accordingly, the company has revised its production guidance to between 90,000 and 95,000 ounces of gold for these two mines in 2015.
Taylor
The Taylor property consists of 28 wholly owned patented, mineral leases and mineral claims in the south-central part of Taylor township covering 1,542 hectares. The property is located 53 kilometres east of Timmins, Ont., and is easily accessible by secondary roads from Ontario provincial Highways 11 and 101. The deposits are located approximately 70 km by road west of the company's Holt mill.
Taylor consists of three defined mineralized deposits situated immediately south of the Porcupine Destor fault zone (PDFZ), commencing with the Shaft zone on the eastern side, the West porphyry zone (WPZ), which contains the majority of the mineral reserves and resources, in the middle of the property and the Shoot zone situated on the west side of the property. Exploration potential associated with each of these deposits is believed to be excellent as drilling indicates that the mineralized zones remain open along strike and at depth.
At the beginning of 2013, the company made the decision to advance the ramp at WPZ in order to provide a better drill platform to target the 1004 lens, which hosts approximately 80 per cent of the mineral reserves at the WPZ. At Dec. 31, 2014, the mineral resources at Taylor are estimated for three areas: (i) the WPZ, (ii) Shoot and (iii) Shaft; all estimates were prepared by the company's management and are summarized in the table.
TAYLOR PROJECT -- MINERAL RESERVES ESTIMATE -- DEC. 31, 2014
Proven Probable
Tonnes Grade Au Tonnes Grade Au
(000s) (g/t Au) (000s oz) (000s) (g/t Au) (000s oz)
Dec. 31, 2013 - - - 736 5.63 133
Dec. 31, 2014 - - - 774 6.27 156
Notes
(1) Mineral reserves were estimated by management according to CIM
definition standards -- November, 2010.
(2) Mineral reserves were estimated using a gold price of $1,250 (U.S.) per
ounce and an exchange rate of $1.08 (Canadian) is equal to $1.00 (U.S.).
(3) Mineral reserves for Taylor were estimated using a stope-by-stope method
at an average cut-off grade of 3.48 grams per tonne (g/t) Au.
(4) Tonnes and gold ounce information are rounded to the nearest thousands
and as a result, totals may not add exactly due to rounding.
TAYLOR PROJECT -- MINERAL RESOURCES ESTIMATE -- DEC. 31, 2014
Measured Indicated Inferred
Tonnes Grade Ounces Au Tonnes Grade Ounces Au Tonnes Grade Ounces Au
(000s) (g/t Au) (000s oz) (000s) (g/t Au) (000s oz) (000s) (g/t Au) (000s oz)
At Dec. 31, 2013 - - - 1,704 5.03 275 1,929 3.96 246
At Dec. 31, 2014 - - - 2,323 4.76 356 1,951 4.10 257
Notes
(1) Mineral resources were estimated by management according to CIM definition standards -- November, 2010.
(2) Mineral Resources for Taylor used a $1,250-(U.S.)-per-ounce gold price and an exchange rate of $1.08 (Canadian)
is equal to $1.00 (U.S.).
(3) Taylor mineral resources were estimated at a cut-off grade of 2.50 g/t Au for WPZ and Shaft zones. The Shoot zone
was estimated at a cut-off grade of 3.00 g/t Au.
(4) Tonnes and gold ounce information are rounded to the nearest thousands and as a result, totals may not add exactly
due to rounding.
At the end of 2014 and in January, 2015, the company processed a 17,540-tonne bulk sample sourced from the 1004 lens. The bulk sample achieved an average head grade of 9.01 g/t Au and a mill recovery of 97.4 per cent. The company made the decision in early 2015 to advance Taylor into commercial production, with a planned completion date of the end of the year. Underground preproduction development activities commenced during the first quarter of 2015.
During the third quarter of 2015, the company phased out contracted mining operations, and has since added $6.2-million of its own mining equipment at Taylor and hired an additional 60 company employees.
Qualified person
Production at the Holt, Holloway and Taylor mines, and processing at the Holt mill, are being conducted under the supervision of Marc-Andre Pelletier, PEng, the company's vice-president and general manager of operations. The geological aspects of Taylor are under the supervision of Douglas Cater, PGeo, the company's vice-president, exploration; and mineral reserves were updated under the supervision of Keyvan Salehi, PEng, MBA, the company's vice-president, corporate development and technical services. Mr. Cater, Mr. Salehi and Mr. Pelletier are qualified persons as defined by National Instrument 43-101, and have reviewed and approved this news release.
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