Canada’s Pure Gold Ming (TSX-V: PGM) (LON: PUR) said on Monday that its Madsen mine in Red Lake, Ontario, the only bullion project under construction in the country, remains on track to pour its first gold by the end of 2020.
Despite coronavirus-related measures, the Vancouver miner reported “significant progress towards completing construction” of the mine, in the gold-rich area.
Madsen mine, located just 15 km from Evolution Mining’s Red Lake mine, is considered one of Canada’s highest-grade gold development projects.
The combination of strong gold prices and a declining
Canadian dollar, the company said, provides a rare positive investment outlook for
what will also be a significant employer at a time of shrinking job numbers. Including
contractors and excluding corporate positions, Red Lake is expected to employ
about 400 people.
Pure Gold said it continued to build size and scale at the mine.
This month’s drilling will focus on converting resources to reserves and
increasing resources from new high-grade discoveries at surface and at depth.
The detailed engineering of the process plant is 95% completes and mine dry construction is close to completion.
Senior gold miner ambitions
“We are building a fully-funded, long-life growth company uniquely
positioned in the Red Lake camp, one of the world’s largest gold-producing
districts,” President and chief executive, Darin Labrenz, said in the statement.
“Our opportunity is tremendous: the real potential to become
Red Lake’s next senior gold producer,” Labrenz noted.
Pure Gold’s mine, located just 15 km from Evolution Mining’s Red Lake mine, is considered one of Canada’s highest-grade gold development projects.
A feasibility study released in February 2019 outlined a 12-year, high-grade underground mining operation capable of producing 125,000 ounces of payable gold annually.
The site is the same that hosted the Madsen mine, which produced
2.5 million ounces of gold between 1938 and 1976. The asset was briefly put
back into production in the late 1990s before the collapse in the gold price.