The Cameron and Dubenski Gold Deposits form part of the clan of gold mineral systems occurring in greenstones that have traditionally been classified as orogenic, whereby a clan is a family of deposits that are either formed by related processes or that are distinct products of large-scale hydrothermal processes (Robert et al. 2007). Greenstone hosted gold deposits are the most important of the clan with some nineteen deposits with greater than 10 Moz contained gold identified and with almost 400 Moz of total endowment worldwide.

The bulk of the mineralization comprising the Cameron Gold Deposit can be regarded as being part of the atypical greenstone family, with a lesser, but potentially-highly significant orogenic vein style.

The Cameron Gold Deposit has many features in common with both orogenic and atypical greenstone deposits. These include an association of the intersection of a crustal scale (first-order) structure (Cameron Pipestone Fault) with a large-scale (second order) structure (Cameron Lake Shear Zone) in the region of an anticline fold structure (Shingwak Lake Anticline). A stratigraphic position at a possible hiatus or change in volcanism (Rowan Lake Volcanics to Cameron Lake Volcanics) in an iron-rich part of the volcanic stratigraphy, which is also near a volcanic sediment (volcaniclastic) transition.

The bulk of the mineralization comprising the Dubenski Gold Deposit can be regarded as being part of the atypical greenstone family, with the mineralization style being dominated by disseminated sulphide replacement. It is apparent that the mineralization at the Dubenski Gold Deposit is silica-rich, but quartz-poor, and that the alteration assemblage is dominated by silicacarbonate-pyrite which are other characteristics of deposits of the atypical classification.

The mineralization at the Cameron Gold Deposit is mainly hosted in mafic volcanic rocks within a northwest-trending shear zone (Cameron Lake Shear Zone or CLSZ) which dips fairly steeply to the northeast. In the southeastern part of the deposit where the greatest amount of gold has been delineated, the shear zone forms the contact between the mafic volcanic rocks and diabase / dolerite in the footwall.

The mineralization occurs within quartz breccia veins, associated with intense silica sericitecarbonate-pyrite alteration in a series of zones that dip moderately to steeply to the northwest within and adjacent to the shear zone. Gold is associated with disseminated pyrite with high sulphide concentration generally corresponding with higher grade. Visible gold is very rare. The mineralization is open at depth and along strike to the northwest, so potential exists to expand the mineral resource at this deposit.

The mineralization at the Dubenski Gold Deposit is hosted by felsic to intermediate ‘tuff’ and lapilli tuff or sericite schist. Gold is associated with disseminated pyrite, with higher-grade zones corresponding with strong silicification. Although gold is strongly associated with pyrite and silica, not all pyrite carries gold and not all silicified zones are auriferous. Visible gold is common throughout the deposit and occurs along foliation planes and, less commonly, as disseminations.

The Cameron and Dubenski Gold Deposits are greenstone-hosted gold deposits and whilst they can generally be considered to be a part of the orogenic family of gold deposits, they bear many atypical characteristics that are commonly identified in the largest gold deposits of this style.

The open pit and underground mining potential of Cameron was evaluated. The evaluation concluded that the most viable economic option was initial open pit mining to a maximum vertical depth of 250 m, followed by underground mining.

Only open pit mining was considered for Dubenski. Dubenski is located approximately 7 km from Cameron and lies between two lakes.

At Cameron an existing decline has been developed with dimensions of 12 ft (3.6 m) x 16 ft (4.9 m) at a 15% (approximately 1:7) gradient from the surface to 800 ft (244 m) below the surface. Mineralisation access was developed at 365 ft (111 m), 490 ft (149 m) and 685 ft (209 m) levels.

Open pit mining will use a conventional open pit truck and excavator method. All material will be drilled and blasted on 10 m benches, and excavated on 2.5 m flitches using nominally a 250 t excavator and 90 t haul trucks.

The Cameron pit is approximately 1,000 m long, 450 m wide and 240 m deep. The pit consists of a main southern pit, with a smaller independent, northern section (110 m deep). The pit design contains four stages. There are two stages (Stages 1 and 2) within the main southern pit (Stage 3) and the north pit (Stage 4).

Separate ramps were designed for the south and north pit areas to provide operational flexibility. The pit design was based on 90 t class trucks for the majority of the pit, reducing to narrow working areas at the pit base, where smaller trucks will be required. The pit design aimed to meet the recommended overall slope angles. However due to the impact of ramps on the overall slope angle, minor steepening of the recommended batter angles was made.

Only the Cameron deposit was considered for underground mining potential. Sub-level open stoping (SLOS) is considered the most appropriate mining method based on:
• Generally steep mineralisation dip of 70º.
• Mineralised width up to 30 m, with an average of approximately 10 m.
• Low mineralisation grades.
• Generally good ground conditions.
• Technology – SLOS is a mechanised method that allows a high production rate, and low cost.
• Safety – SLOS is a non-entry method, where personnel do not enter the stope.

The Cameron underground mine will be accessed from a portal located in the Cameron stage 4 (north) pit

AMC considers trucking as the most appropriate materials handling method based on the moderate production rate expected of less than 1.0 Mtpa and low total tonnage.

A mine design was completed based on the 1.75 g/t MSO shapes.

The MSO shapes were smoothed to provide more realistic stope shapes, which resulted in a further increase in tonnes and reduction in grade due to higher levels of planned dilution included in the mining shapes.

A decline, at a gradient of 1:7, was designed from the north pit to the mine bottom at 525 mRL. Level access was provided at 25 m vertical intervals. Stopes were further evaluated to ensure they produced a positive cash flow after development access was considered. A number of isolated stopes at the northern end and around the southern pit perimeter were removed to develop the estimate of mining tonnes and grade.

A mining recovery factor of 85% was applied to the stope shapes to represent mining loss in pillars and general losses due to mining practices.

A combined mining schedule was developed incorporating the Cameron open pit, Cameron underground and Dubenski open pit. The schedule targeted a 1.0 Mt/y mill feed rate. The resulting combined operation indicated a 9.5 year mining operation.

The Cameron Gold Camp Project process plant design is based on a typical three stage crushing, ball milling and CIL flowsheet. The process plant will treat 1.0 Mtpa.

The flowsheet includes a three stage crushing circuit producing a product with a P80 of 8 mm that will be stored in a fine ore bin with 12 hours capacity ahead of the milling circuit. The ball mill in closed circuit with cyclones will produce a final product with a P80 of 75 µm. The milled product will gravitate to a trash screen before entering a pre-leach thickener which will increase slurry density to approximately 55% w/w before being pumped to a pre-leach tank. A six stage carbon-in-leach (CIL) circuit will be used to leach and absorb gold from the milled ore onto activated carbon. Oxygen will be used to enhance gold dissolution in the CIL circuit. An AARL elution circuit will be used to recover gold from loaded carbon. Cyanide in the tailings will be destroyed using the SO2 / O2 process prior to pumping to the tailings storage facility. This process flowsheet is well known in industry, and is relatively low risk.