The South West, Windjammer South, Windjammer Central, Discovery, Windjammer North, and 55 deposits of the Golden Highway Project can be classified as structurally-controlled orogenic gold deposits in an Archean greenstone belt setting. The Abitibi greenstone belt of Ontario and Quebec is located in the southeastern portion of the Superior Province (Nassif et. al 2018) of the Canadian Shield. This deposit type is a significant source of gold mined in the Superior and Slave provinces. Dubè and Gosselin (2007) published an overview of greenstone hosted gold deposits in Canada. These deposits are typically quartz-carbonate vein hosted and are distributed along crustal-scale fault zones that mark convergent margins between major lithological boundaries such as those between volcano-plutonic and sedimentary domains. The Golden Highway Project is located on the DPFZ (Destor Porcupine Fault Zone), a major regional structure.

The DPFZ in northeastern Ontario, hosts the largest Archean orogenic gold camp in the world and has produced over 75 Moz of gold from the Timmins Camp alone. When combined with the adjacent Larder Lake-Cadillac Fault Zone and associated splays, this region has hosted over 200 Moz of gold (Dubé, B et al. 2017).

The greenstone-hosted quartz-carbonate vein deposits are structurally controlled, epigenetic deposits characterized by simple to complex networks of gold-bearing, laminated quartzcarbonate structure-fill veins. These veins are hosted by moderately to steeply dipping, compressional, brittle-ductile shear zones and faults with locally associated extensional veins and hydrothermal breccias. The later structures are the main host for mineralization on the Golden Highway Project.

Along the DPFZ the main host rocks are greenschist facies metamorphic rocks of dominantly mafic to ultramafic metavolcanic rocks intruded by intermediate to felsic porphyry. In the Timmins area, larger deposits are spatially associated with fluvio-alluvial conglomerate (Timiskaming conglomerate) distributed along major and deep-seated crustal fault zones DPFZ. On the Golden Highway Project, a banded iron formation transects the Timiskaming sedimentary basin and is spatially associated with gold mineralization.

The deposits are typically associated with iron-carbonate (ankerite) alteration with gold usually occurring in the quartz-carbonate pyrite vein network. Significant gold can also occur associated with the iron-rich, sulphidized, wall rock selvages or within silicified and arsenopyrite-rich replacement zones.

In the Superior Province, orogenic gold deposits are spatially associated with large scale regional deformation zones such as the DPFZ. These large-scale structures and the associated Timiskaming-type sediments are interpreted as zones of transgressive terrain accretion (Kerrich and Wyman 1990), (Nassif et al. 2018). Colvine et al.’s (1988) study of gold deposits in Ontario concluded that Archean lode gold deposits are formed at deeper crustal levels (2 to 10 km) than younger epithermal deposits.

Auriferous quartz veins cut many different rock types in the Timmins-Kirkland Lake area, including late intrusive rocks and late deformation zones such as the DPFZ. As a consequence, it is likely that gold mineralization formed late in the Archean geological history of the Timmins area (Fyon and Green, 1991). In the Timmins area, Corfu et al. (1989) have documented auriferous quartz veins cutting 2,691 to 2,688 Ma quartz-feldspar porphyry intrusions and a 2,673 +6/-2 Ma albitite dikes. At the adjacent Garrison project, Nassif et. al (2018) have concluded that north-northwest-trending extensional gold bearing quartz veins post-dated earlier sinistral trans tensional northeast-trending shear zones hosting hydrothermal mineralization dated 2,657 +/- 15Ma.

The mineralized deposits at the Golden Highway Project will be mined by a combination of conventional open pit methods, which will be applied to mineralization located closer to surface and underground retreat long-hole methods for mineralization located at depth. The mining methods and production capacity have been chosen to match an ultimate milling throughput rate of 25,000 tpd. This total will be composed of 22,000 tpd from the open pit and 3,000 tpd from the underground mine.

Open pit mining will extract the portion of the mineral resources located closer to surface. This operation will utilize conventional and well established open-pit mining practices, with successive drill and blast, load and haul cycles using a drill/shovel/truck mining fleet. The overburden and waste rock material will be hauled to overburden and waste disposal areas near the pit or use as backfill. The run-of mine mineralization will be loaded by hydraulic shovels and delivered by mining haul trucks to the primary crusher or stockpile near the crusher.

Underground mining methods will be used to exploit the mineral resources located at depth. The underground mining operations will be accessed by an inclined ramp and a vertical shaft.

OPEN PIT MINING:
These surface mineralized deposits are grouped into three designated open pit mining operations: the 55 Zone Pit, the SW Zone Pit and the NE Zone Pit. The open pits are scheduled to produce 22,000 tpd of mineralization and a total of 75 million tonnes per year of overburden, waste and mineralization combined.

The NE Zone pit would be developed in three phases. The two other open pits would each be developed in a single phase.

UNDERGROUND MINING:
An underground mining operation would access and extract the Potentially Mineable Portion of the Mineral Resources located at depth below the proposed SW Zone open pit location.

Initial access to the underground deposit will be via a portal and decline with an inclination of - 15%. This decline will connect with the -230 m level, at a total vertical depth of 550 m. Mining of the potentially mineable portions of the mineral resources located above this elevation will be via the decline for access and haulage of material to surface. Concurrent with production from the decline, a circular, concrete lined vertical shaft measuring approximately 6.5 m in diameter, will be excavated from surface down to a depth of 1,170 m. It is expected that this shaft and its associated hoisting and support facilities will be commissioned after four years of decline access mining, allowing production to commence down to the -800 m level.

The primary mining method envisaged for the underground mining operation is conventional longitudinal longhole retreat with paste backfill.

Sub-levels (“undercuts” and “overcuts”) from the access cross-cuts will be located at 30 m vertical intervals. Sublevel drifts would be developed in the mineralized zones to the full width of the Potentially Economic Portion of the Mineral Resources. These drifts would provide access for the successive operations of slot raise development, blasthole drilling and blasting, load/haul/dump (“LHD”) mucking and backfill placement. A 1.8 m by 1.8 m slot ventilation / backfill raise would be driven at the end of each stope.

Blastholes measuring 92 mm in diameter would then be drilled from the sublevel either up or down to adjacent sublevels. These blastholes would typically be drilled on a 2.0 m burden and fan spacing, in order to break the rock into the open slot and stope. The blasting powder factor necessary to produce adequate fragmentation of the rock, using emulsion explosives, is estimated to be approximately 0.60 kg/t.

Remotely operated LHD units would remove broken mineralization from the stope and from the excavated sublevel drifts. The stopes would be backfilled primarily with cemented paste backfill, supplemented with waste rock. A sill pillar will be left in place under mined out areas.

As the stope advances, paste backfill and development waste would be placed in the mined out area of the stopes from the level above.

Crushed ore is ground to a K80 of 74 microns in a two stage grinding circuit at an average rate of approximately 25,000 t/d (8,750,000 t/a). Ground product from the grinding circuit is fed to a cyanidation/ CIP circuit for gold extraction. A conventional carbon elution circuit recovers gold which is smelted to yield a doré product.