San Gold Corporation

Description

The San Gold mine site is located 230 km northeast of Winnipeg, Manitoba adjacent to the town of Bissett, Manitoba. 160 km of the road network serving Bissett is paved provincial highway with the remainder being all-weather gravel road. Since 1932, the Rice Lake Mine has produced a total of 1.4 million ounces of gold. Ore is currently being mined from the Rice Lake Mine and the newly developed Hinge mine, located 1 km east of the Rice Lake Mine. Bulk sampling commenced this summer in the 007 zone using The Hinge Mine portal. Ore is processed at the mill located on site. Ongoing exploration continues to improve our understanding of the regional geology and location of ore bodies. San Gold now understands the region as a series of interconnected vein systems controlled by but not confined to the San Antonio Mine (SAM) unit. This is a fundamental shift away from from the previous approach, which viewed the mining area as a collection of individual deposits located within the SAM unit. San Gold has full title to 40 mineral leases and 3,629 hectares contiguous to Mine Lease 63, the lease which contains the Rice Lake Mine. These mineral leases stretch for 12 km along the mine horizon. An additional 25 mineral claims covering an area of 3,132 hectares are located in the remainder of the Rice Lake Greenstone Belt. The Company has access to an additional 5,000 hectares through option agreements and joint venture agreements with other explorers in the area. San Gold has substantially increased the operation's audited Measured plus Indicated (M plus I) resource ounces and inferred resource ounces since its predecessor companies acquired the Rice Lake Mine in 2004. The Rice Lake Mine is located immediately adjacent to the mill. The Hinge Mine portal is located 600 metres from the mill. Infrastructure at the Rice Lake Mine includes a 1,200 ton per day processing mill and equipment for processing the dore bars on-site. The tailing containment facility is fully permitted. San Gold's current strategy is to continue building on its exploration successes while increasing production output. To date, San Gold has accomplished this by quickly putting new discoveries into production, improving cash flows while proving the resource through production. The Hinge Mine portal was opened less than two years after the ore body was discovered. This new mine provided San Gold with a second mine portal, increasing operational flexibility and access to a large volume of high-grade ore near the surface. The 007 zone began bulk sampling this summer. Accessed through the Hinge Mine portal, the 007 zone is San Gold's second high-grade, near-surface operating region. In the long term, San Gold intends to continue developing the high-grade, near-surface deposits being discovered as part of its exploration program. After only a few years of operations, costs per ounce of gold produced are already becoming comparable with other Canadian underground gold mines. As these near surface deposits continue to come online, the average cost per ounce of gold produced is expected to drop further.

Products & services

Similar companies nearby