The Sleeping Giant mine was a conventional operation that suspended is production in 2014. Since then, the underground facilities have been maintained under care and maintenance and most of the underground excavations are still accessible. The Sleeping Giant project is considering production using similar methods to those used in previous operations, with a combination of long-hole (“LH”), room-and-pillar (“R&P”) and shrinkage mining methods.
The proposed underground operations at Sleeping Giant would utilize conventional mining methods, using track drift to haul mineralized material to the existing ore-pass system. To reach the optimized stopes, new drifts are excavated from existing levels. Additionally, some new levels will be developed near the bottom of the shaft (below N1060). The proposed operation has an expected mine life close to six (6) years following the pre-production period.
The Project will involve an underground operation with a proposed mining method optimized to the deposit geometry (narrow veins) and previously used production techniques. It will employ a variety of stoping methods (LH, R&P, and shrinkage). Mining voids will not be backfilled, continuing the previous approach.
Long hole (LH)
LH mining is the latest mining method to be applied at the Sleeping Giant mine. It has been used in the past, but only as test stopes, with varying results. This method allows for high productivity, with lesser manpower than the c ........