The Goldex Mine is a gold mine is situated in Val-d’Or, Quebec, Canada. The deposit is situated on the Abitibi Greenstone Belt, at the eastern terminus of the Larder Lake-Cadillac Fault. Exploration began in 1920 and large scale surface drilling began in 1963 followed by underground bulk sampling in 1972. 2008 marked the start of production and the subsequent years saw various rounds of reclassifications of Resources and Reserves.
The Goldex Mine operates solely as an underground operation. Stopes are 50 m high, transverse longhole, mined as primaries and secondaries, and employing pastefill. The M Zone has 34 stopes planned, containing 3.6 Mt of Reserve. The E Zone has 47 stopes totalling 2.8 Mt of Reserve. Life of Mine is four years with a peak production of 5,100 tpd amounting to 90 koz gold per year. Goldex mine life may extend beyond four years with successful conversion of Resource into Reserve. The project has an after-tax NPV5% of C$12.3M and IRR of 13.1%. Payback period is 5 years.
| Classification | Tonnes (‘000 t) | Grade (g/t) | Ounces (‘000 oz) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reserve | 6,529 | 1.54 | 322 |
| Resource (M+I) | 36,808 | 1.77 | 2,093 |
| Inferred | 31,081 | 1.59 | 1,588 |
Goldex is a project with a long history of exploration and short period of production, largely due to its low grade. Using a cost of C$40.90/t to C$41.09/t, a 322 koz Reserve has been developed from a 1.00 g/t cut-off. These cost figures are challenging to achieve in underground mining. Annual ounce throughput is improved by increasing tonnage to 5,100 tpd, although LOM is still short, at just four years. Cashflow is positive, although the gain is small. The conservative use of US$1,342/oz and C$1.03/US$1.00 will likely result in improved project economics. While Goldex has long been marked with low grade, its 2.1 Moz M+I Resource and 1.6 Moz Inferred Resource has intrigued many proceed with more drilling and underground bulk sampling that gradually increases in size.
The information presented above does not constitute investment advice. This is a summary from the NI43-101 Technical Report effective Oct 14, 2012 (INSERT), with commentary from the author. Statements above do not represent the views of Agnico Eagle. If any discrepancies arise, the information contained within the NI43-101 are official and final. For latest depletion data, please refer to the AIF update.