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Canada

Cochrane Hill Project

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Overview

Mine TypeOpen Pit
 Archived Information
Commodities
  • Gold
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
Mine Life... Lock
SnapshotCochrane Hill open pit mine is part of Atlantic Operation.

As of August 29, 2022, the environmental assessment of the Cochrane Hill Gold Project has terminated. The strategy focus is continue exploration at Cochrane Hill.
Related AssetAtlantic Operation

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
St Barbara Ltd. 100 % Indirect
St Barbara Limited owns the Atlantic Gold operation through its wholly owned subsidiary Atlantic Mining NS Inc.

Deposit type

  • Vein / narrow vein
  • Orogenic
  • Mesothermal

Summary:

The known deposits within the Atlantic operation area are considered to be examples of turbidite-hosted, orogenic mesothermal gold deposits.

Strata of the Meguma Terrane in eastern mainland Nova Scotia include the basal greywacke-dominated Goldenville Group and the overlying, finer-grained, argillitedominated Halifax Group. Cochrane Hill is hosted in the basal Goldenville Group.

The Cochrane Hill property encompasses a section of the northeast-trending Cochrane Hill anticline which can be traced for at least 28 km from a position approximately 14 km west of the Cochrane Hill deposit, to approximately 12 km east of the Cochrane Hill deposit. The Cochrane Hill anticline is a tight to isoclinal fold in the vicinity of the Cochrane Hill deposit, overturned with both limbs dipping to the north at between 55° and 80°.

The host interbedded argillite and greywacke sequence may either represent sediments of the Moose River Formation or the Tangier Formation.

Structure
There appears to be very little disruption of the mineralised zone by post-mineralization faulting. Although physical evidence in core is limited, historical geophysical data along with observations from logging geologists suggest a steep northwest-trending fault just west of line 3000E could divide the property into a western domain and an eastern domain, which supports a metallurgical divide as seen in geostatistical evaluations.

Metamorphism
Lithologies in the area have been metamorphosed to amphibolite (staurolite) facies with development of biotite schists after argillite protoliths and porphyroblastic textures in fine-grained greywacke and argillite.

Mineralization
Mineralization is in the form of a tabular zone of parallel, planar quartz veins in a wellbedded argillite and greywacke protolith, dipping steeply to the north at approximately 70°, parallel to bedding in the southern limb of the Cochrane Hill anticline.

Gold mineralization occurs over true widths of up to 60–70 m, within which better grade material (e.g., >0.8 g/t Au) is persistent over true widths varying from 5–30 m. The base of the gold mineralization is relatively sharp in terms of grade, but the hanging wall contact is less defined, with an erratic distribution of weakly anomalous grades and occasional >1 g/t Au grades. The mineralization has been defined over a strike length of 1,500 m and down to a vertical depth of 300 m.

Gold mineralization occurs within quartz veins and within biotite schist (after argillite) and metagreywacke host rock. Mineralization is associated with sulphides, including arsenopyrite, pyrite and pyrrhotite and lesser galena and sphalerite.

The known deposits within the Atlantic operation area are considered to be examples of turbiditehosted, orogenic mesothermal gold deposits.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

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Processing

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Production

Combined production numbers are reported under Atlantic Operation

Operational metrics

Metrics
Stripping / waste ratio 3.5 *
Waste tonnes, LOM 53,397 kt *
Ore tonnes mined, LOM 15,380 kt *
Total tonnes mined, LOM 68,777 kt *
Tonnes milled, LOM 15,380 kt *
* According to 2019 study.

Production Costs

CommodityUnitsAverage
Assumed price Gold USD 1,300 / oz *  
* According to 2019 study / presentation.

Operating Costs

Currency2019
OP mining costs ($/t milled) CAD 11.8 *  
Processing costs ($/t milled) CAD  ....  Subscribe
Total operating costs ($/t milled) CAD  ....  Subscribe
* According to 2019 study.

Project Costs

MetricsUnitsLOM Total
Pre-Production capital costs $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
Sustaining CapEx $M CAD  ......  Subscribe

Required Heavy Mobile Equipment

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Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Mar 25, 2019
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Mar 25, 2019
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Feb 3, 2024
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Feb 3, 2024

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