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Canada
Young-Davidson Mine

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 Location:
2 km NW from Matachewan, Ontario, Canada

  Address:
Hwy 566, Mine Site
PO Box 187
Matachewan
Ontario, Canada
M5C 1T4
Phone705-565-9800
Fax705-565-2387
WebsiteWeb
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  • Overview
  • Owners
  • Geology
  • Mining
  • Processing
  • Production
  • Reserves
  • Costs & Financials
  • Fleet
  • Personnel
  • Filings & News

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Overview

StageProduction
Mine TypeUnderground
Commodities
  • Gold
Mining Method
  • Transverse stoping
  • Longitudinal stoping
  • Paste backfill
Shaft Depth 1,500 m
Production Start2012
Mine Life15 years (as of Jan 1, 2021)
Young-Davidson is one of Canada’s largest underground gold mines.


Owners

Source: p. 11
CompanyInterestOwnership
Alamos Gold Inc. 100 % Direct
Alamos Gold owns and operates the Young-Davidson mine.

Contractors

ContractorContractDescriptionRef. DateExpirySource
unawarded or unknown Drilling The mine is fully owner-operated with only diamond drilling and raising being contracted. Dec 31, 2021


Deposit Type

  • Breccia pipe / Stockwork
  • Volcanic hosted
  • Sediment-hosted

Source: Source p.40-49

Summary:

The Young-Davidson Property is located within the southwestern part of the Abitibi Greenstone Belt, which is the largest preserved Archean greenstone belt in the world and one of the most continuous units of the Superior Geologic Province. The Abitibi Greenstone Belt extends for 750 km from the Grenville Province in the east to the Kapuskasing Gneiss Belt in the west, and for over 170 km from the Opatica Gneissic belt in the north to the Proterozoic Huronian sediments in the south.

The Abitibi Greenstone Belt consists of a complex and diverse array of volcanic, sedimentary, and plutonic rocks typically metamorphosed to greenschist facies grade, but locally attaining amphibolite facies grade adjacent to large plutons and along the Grenville Front.

At least five styles of gold mineralization are recognized at the Young-Davidson Project:

1. Syenite-hosted gold mineralization;
2. Mafic volcanic-hosted gold mineralization (MCM Mine);
3. Timiskaming sediment-hosted gold mineralization;
4. Ultramafic-hosted gold mineralization;
5. Hanging wall contact gold mineralization.

The syenite-hosted gold mineralization consists of a stockwork of quartz veinlets and narrow quartz veins, rarely greater than a few inches in thickness, situated within a broader halo of disseminated pyrite and potassic alteration. Visible gold is common in the narrower, glassy-textured quartz veinlets. In general, gold grades increase with quartz veinlet abundance, pyrite abundance, and alteration intensity. Mineralized areas are visually distinctive and are characterized by brick red to pink Kfeldspar-rich syenite containing two to three percent disseminated pyrite and several orientations of quartz extension veinlets and veins. The quartz veins and veinlets commonly contain accessory carbonate, pyrite, and feldspar.

The syenite-hosted gold deposits, commonly associated with quartz-monzonite to syenite stocks and dikes, has been individualized as a distinct group of gold deposits, well represented in the Abitibi Greenstone belt and particularly at the Porcupine and Kirkland Lake districts, Northern Ontario.

According to Robert (2004), the syenite-hosted gold deposits occur mainly along major fault zones, in association with preserved alluvial-fluvial, Timiskaming-type, sedimentary rocks. Robert (2004) describes the gold mineralization in these deposits as being represented by disseminated sulphide replacement zones, with variably developed stockworks of quartz-carbonate-K-feldspar veinlets within zones of carbonate, albite, K-feldspar, and sericite alteration. Syenitic intrusions are broadly contemporaneous with deposition of Timiskaming sedimentary rocks and, together with disseminated gold mineralization; they have been overprinted by subsequent regional folding and related penetrative cleavage.

The Young-Davidson deposit, also located in the Abitibi greenstone belt, can be classified as an Archean, syenite-hosted gold deposit. The gold mineralization is primarily related to quartz veinlet stockworks and disseminated pyrite mineralization, mostly enclosed within the syenite intrusion boundaries, or very close to the contacts with the enclosing rocks, and is frequently associated with broader zones of potassic alteration.


Mining Methods

  • Transverse stoping
  • Longitudinal stoping
  • Paste backfill

Source:

Summary:

Open pit mining commenced in November 2011, and ceased in June 2014, upon depletion of the in-situ open pit Mineral Reserve. While the mining of the open pit has ceased, a sizeable stockpile of open pit ore was used to augment underground production until early 2020 but has now been depleted. Over the life of the open pit, approximately 20.9 Mt of waste rock was generated by the open pit and placed in the waste dump to the north of the pit. Commercial production was declared for the Young- Davidson open pit mine and mill effective September 1, 2012.

In October 2013, the Company commissioned the mid-shaft loading pocket and shaft hoisting infrastructure and began hoisting underground ore to surface via the Northgate shaft. Prior to October 2013, ore was being trucked to surface through the exploration ramp. On October 31, 2013, commercial production at the Young-Davidson underground mine was achieved.

The underground deposit is located approximately 210 m to 1,500 m below surface. During 2013, AuRico completed the sinking of the Northgate shaft down to the mid-shaft loading pocket to access the first eight years of mine production. The Company has since completed vertical access in the underground mine below that of the mid-shaft loading pocket, to the ultimate depth of 1,500 m. In 2017, raise boring of the Northgate shaft was completed to the ultimate depth of 1,500 m and ground supporting of the shaft was completed in 2018. Completion of the lower mine development and the tying in of the Northgate shaft extension was completed in mid-2020. In 2015 the existing MCM #3 shaft was extended to a depth of 1,500 m to provide for the hoisting of personnel, materials, and ore and waste. Commissioning of the MCM #3 shaft was completed in the first half of 2016. The mine is also accessed by a ramp, which was extended to the bottom of the mine from the existing exploration ramp and was completed in the first half of 2020. The mine design has taken into consideration the existing MCM #3 and the Northgate shafts and other existing openings for ventilation. Additional ventilation raises to surface have been established and the underground ventilation circuit continues to be upgraded as the mine deepens.

The underground mine has been designed for low operating costs using large modern equipment, gravity movement of ore and waste through raises, shaft hoisting, minimal ore, and waste re- handling, high productivity bulk mining methods, and paste backfill. The mining method employed is a combination of transverse and longitudinal stoping, followed by paste backfill, on 30 m sub- levels. Below the 9,400 m level sub-levels are being developed on 35 m intervals. Given the significant orebody widths, it is expected that approximately 90% of the remaining Mineral Reserves will be transversely mined. The mine operates scoop trams to load, haul and transfer stope production to the ore pass system from where it is hoisted to the surface via two 24.5 tonne skips in the Northgate shaft.

With the commissioning of the lower mine, the Northgate shaft hoisting capacity is approximately 10,500 tpd of ore and waste.

At the current design production rates of 2.92 million tonnes per year (8,000 tpd) at full production (post-2021), the underground will have a minimum mine life of approximately 15 years based on the current Mineral Reserve.

Lateral development of the underground mine will average approximately 11,000 m per year including capital, operating, and ore categories for the first ten years of the underground mine operation. In the last five years of the underground mine life, the development requirements drop off sharply as the mine is close to being fully developed.

The average underground hourly mining personnel requirements at 8,000 tpd are estimated to be approximately 380 persons. The mine operates seven days a week with two 10.5 hour shifts per day working five days on and four days off followed by four days on and five days off schedule. The mine is fully owner-operated with only diamond drilling and raising being contracted.


Crushing and Grinding
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Processing

  • Carbon re-activation kiln
  • Flotation
  • Concentrate leach
  • Agitated tank (VAT) leaching
  • Carbon in leach (CIL)
  • Solvent Extraction & Electrowinning
  • Cyanide (reagent)

Source: Source

Summary:

The Young-Davidson mill can be considered a standard flotation/CIL gold mill. The mill was commissioned during Q1 of 2012 and the first gold pour occurred on April 30th, 2012. Ore is currently sourced from two sources, the underground mine and from low grade surface stockpiles, produced by the open pit between 2011 and 2014.

The cyclone overflow feeds a trash screen prior to feeding the flotation conditioner. The flotation conditioner overflows into the first flotation cell. The flotation circuit is comprised of four tank cells.

The flotation concentrate is pumped to the concentrate thickener. Thickener underflow is pumped to the regrinding circuit. The thickened concentrate is pumped to the regrinding circuit, comprising a vertical tower mill, where the solids are reduced to a size distribution with a nominal P80 target of 15 µm, operated in closed circuit with a cyclone cluster. The cyclone underflow returns to the tower mill box while the cyclone overflow flows directly to the concentrate CIL circuit.

The flotation tailings are pumped to the flotation tailings thickener. The flotation tailings thickener underflow is pumped to the combined CIL circuit. Thickener overflows from both thickeners report to the mill process water tank for reuse.

The flotation concentrate from the regrind circuit reports to a pre-leach tank. The slurry overflows from the pre-leach tank into a series of four CIL tanks providing a total of 48 hours of retention time.

The loaded carbon extracted from the first tank of the concentrate CIL tank is pumped to the carbon stripping circuit for carbon elution.

The flotation tailings, along with the previously leached flotation concentrate are fed to the combined CIL circuit consisting of five leach tanks providing an overall retention time of 24 hours. The combined leach circuit tailings report to the cyanide destruction circuit.

The carbon elution circuit has been sized for processing 4 t/d of carbon. The loaded carbon is pumped from the first flotation concentrate leach tank across a loaded carbon screen. The loaded carbon flows by gravity into the acid wash vessel where the loaded carbon is rinsed by a solution of hydrochloric acid followed by neutralization. The loaded carbon is transferred by a recessed impeller pump to the elution vessel. The stripped carbon is reactivated in an electric kiln and reused in the CIL circuit.

The carbon stripping circuit elutes the precious metals into the pregnant solution. The pregnant solution feeds the electrowinning circuit. Pregnant solution is pumped through the electrowinning circuit to produce sludge on the cathodes containing the precious metals. The cathodes are washed, dewatered and dried. The dried cathode sludge is melted in an electric induction furnace and poured into doré bars.

The combined leach circuit tailings report to the cyanide destruction circuit using the SO2/air process and copper sulphate solution. The treated tailings slurry is pumped to the tailings impoundment area for settling or to the paste fill plant and a portion of the reclaim water is sent back to the process plant as process water.

Recoveries & Grades:

CommodityParameter2021202020192018201720162015
Gold Recovery Rate, % 91929192929189
Gold Head Grade, g/t 2.312.082.462.312.472.192.02

Production:

CommodityUnits2022202120202019201820172016
Gold koz 185-200 ^195136188180200170
All production numbers are expressed as metal in doré. ^ Guidance / Forecast.

Operational Metrics:

Metrics202120202019201820172016
Ore tonnes mined 2,879,662 t1,956,198 t2,452,623 t2,280,399 t2,423,289 t2,199,857 t
Daily mining capacity 10,500 t
Daily ore mining rate 7,889 t5,345 t6,720 t6,248 t6,639 t6,011 t
Tonnes processed 2,883,241 t2,181,324 t2,571,319 t2,683,962 t2,735,267 t2,629,032 t
Daily processing rate 7,899 t5,960 t7,045 t7,353 t7,494 t7,183 t
Total tonnes mined

Reserves at December 31, 2021:
Mineral Resources Cut-off grades are: Young-Davidson - Surface - 0.5 g/t Au; Young-Davidson - Underground - 1.3 g/t Au.
Mineral Reserves Cut-off grades are: Young-Davidson - Surface - 0.5 g/t Au; Young-Davidson - Underground - 1.5 g/t Au.

CategoryOreTypeTonnage CommodityGradeContained Metal
Proven Total 21,451 kt Gold 2.44 g/t 1,681 koz
Probable Total 22,239 kt Gold 2.4 g/t 1,713 koz
Proven & Probable Total 43,690 kt Gold 2.42 g/t 3,394 koz
Measured Stockpiles 496 kt Gold 1.13 g/t 18 koz
Measured In-Situ (UG) 4,168 kt Gold 3.3 g/t 442 koz
Measured Total 4,665 kt Gold 3.07 g/t 460 koz
Indicated Stockpiles 1,242 kt Gold 1.28 g/t 51 koz
Indicated In-Situ (UG) 2,908 kt Gold 4.54 g/t 425 koz
Indicated Total 4,150 kt Gold 3.56 g/t 476 koz
Measured & Indicated Stockpiles 1,739 kt Gold 1.24 g/t 69 koz
Measured & Indicated In-Situ (UG) 7,076 kt Gold 3.81 g/t 867 koz
Measured & Indicated Total 8,815 kt Gold 3.3 g/t 936 koz
Inferred Stockpiles 31 kt Gold 0.99 g/t 1 koz
Inferred In-Situ (UG) 2,062 kt Gold 3.02 g/t 200 koz
Inferred Total 2,093 kt Gold 2.99 g/t 201 koz

Commodity Production Costs:

Commodity202220212020201920182017
Total cash costs (sold) Gold 875 / oz ^†   846 / oz†   1,019 / oz†   800 / oz†   822 / oz†   658 / oz†  
All-in sustaining costs (sold) Gold 1,150 / oz ^†  USD 1,072 / oz†  USD 1,214 / oz†  USD 1,047 / oz†  USD 1,017 / oz†  USD 834 / oz†  USD
^ Guidance / Forecast.
† Net of By-Product.

Operating Costs:

Units201720162015
UG mining costs ($/t milled) USD 343332

Financials:

Units2022202120202019201820172016
Capital expenditures (planned) M USD 64 *  
Growth Capital M USD 38.3  75.6  53.7   50.8   46.2  
Sustaining costs M USD 43.8  26.1  46.2   35.8   34.1   40  
Capital expenditures M USD 88.6  101.7  99.9   86.6   80.3   94.6  
Revenue M USD 350.5  239.4  262.1   236.3   249.7   211.9  
Operating Income M USD 105.4  38.1  31   1.3   36.3   28.2  
* According to 2022 study.



Heavy Mobile Equipment as of December 31, 2016:
Source: Source p.201
HME TypeModelSizeQuantity
Bolter MacLean 5
Concrete sprayer 2
Drill (long hole) 4
Drill jumbo (two boom) Epiroc Boomer 282 5
Grader 2
Load-Haul-Dump (LHD) Caterpillar R2900G 12 cu. yd 9
Load-Haul-Dump (LHD) Caterpillar 1700 8 cu. yd 8
Load-Haul-Dump (LHD) Caterpillar 1300 3.5 cu. yd 2
Scissor Lift MacLean 10
Trans Mixer 2
Truck (boom) 5
Truck (underground) Caterpillar AD45B 3
Truck (underground) Caterpillar AD30 3
Truck (underground) Atlas Copco MT42 5

Mine Management:

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
General Manager Léon G. LeBlanc LinkedIn Jul 13, 2022
Maintenance Superintendent Greg Rooney LinkedIn Jul 13, 2022
Supply Chain Manager Mike Jackson LinkedIn Jul 13, 2022
VP, Technical Services Chris Bostwick LinkedIn Jul 13, 2022


Corporate Filings & Presentations:

DocumentYear
Corporate Presentation 2022
Annual Information Form 2021
Corporate Presentation 2021
Management Discussion & Analysis 2021
Corporate Presentation 2020
Management Discussion & Analysis 2020
Year-end Mineral Reserves 2020
Management Discussion & Analysis 2019
Press Release 2019
Year-end Mineral Reserves 2019
Management Discussion & Analysis 2018
Year-end Mineral Reserves 2018
Management Discussion & Analysis 2017
Year-end Mineral Reserves 2017
Corporate Presentation 2016
Management Discussion & Analysis 2016
Press Release 2016
Technical Report 2016
Management Discussion & Analysis 2015

Aerial view:

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