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Canada

New Polaris Project

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Categories

Overview

Mine TypeUnderground
StagePermitting
Commodities
  • Gold
Mining Method
  • Longhole stoping
  • Cut & Fill
Backfill type ... Lock
Mine Life... Lock
SnapshotCanarc Resource Corp. has received a multi-year exploration permit from the BC Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources to conduct exploration work at its 100% owned New Polaris Gold Mine project in northern British Columbia. Initial site preparation work has been completed to facilitate the environmental baseline study and infill drilling required to advance to a feasibility study.
2022 Plan: Continue environmental baseline studies and geotechnical and engineering work needed to support an application to the BC Environmental Assessment office for an Environmental permit to build the mine.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Canagold Resources Ltd. 100 % Indirect
New Polaris Gold Mines Ltd. 100 % Direct
The claims are 100% owned and held by New Polaris Gold Mines Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Canarc Resource Corp. (Canarc), and subject to a 15% net profit interest held by Rembrandt Gold Mines Ltd. (Rembrandt), which Canarc has the right to reduce to 10% by issuing 150,000 shares to Rembrandt.

Deposit type

  • Vein / narrow vein
  • Mesothermal

Summary:

The New Polaris deposit is classified as a mesothermal lode-gold deposit (Hodgson, 1993).

In general, it is quartz-vein-related, with associated carbonatized wall rocks. The deposits are characterized by a high gold/silver ratio, great vertical continuity with little vertical zonation, and a broadly syn-tectonic time of emplacement. They are commonly associated with pyrite, arsenopyrite, tourmaline and molybdenite. Mineralization may occur in any rock type and ranges in form from veins, to veinlet systems, to disseminated replacement zones. Most mineralized zones are hosted by and always related to steeply dipping reverse- or oblique-slip brittle-fracture to ductile-shear zones.

Past exploration studies have demonstrated that the New Polaris vein systems have all the attributes of the orogenic vein gold deposit including, but not limited to association with major structural break, quartzcarbonate vein association, low-sulphide assemblage of pyrite and arsenopyrite, chloritic and sericitically altered wall rocks and persistent gold mineralization over a vertical distance of nearly 1 km.

Mineralization of the New Polaris deposit bears strong similarities to many Archean lode gold deposits such as the arsenical gold camp of Red Lake, Ontario where the gold-bearing arsenopyrite is disseminated in the altered rock and in quartz-carbonate stringers.

The vein mineralization consists of arsenopyrite, pyrite, stibnite and gold in a gangue of quartz and carbonates. The sulphide content is up to 10% with arsenopyrite the most abundant and pyrite the next important. Stibnite is fairly abundant in some specimens but overall comprises less than one-tenth of 1% of the vein matter. Alteration minerals include fuchsite, silica, pyrite, sericite, carbonate and albite.

In general, the zones of mineralization ranging from 15 to 250 m in length with widths up to 14 m appear to have been deposited only on the larger and stronger shears. Their walls pinch and swell showing considerable irregularity both vertically and horizontally. Gold values in the veins have remarkable continuity and uniformity and are usually directly associated with the amount of arsenopyrite present. The prominent strike directions are north-south and northwest-southeast, which is interpreted to be within a major shear zone. Up to 80% of the mine production was from “structural knots” or what is now known as “C” zones. In detail the “C” zones are arcuate structures.

The vein mineralization has well marked contacts with the wall rock. The transition from mineralized to non-mineralized rock occurs over a few centimeters. The mineralization consists of at least three stages of quartz veining. The initial stage of quartz-ankerite introduced into the structure was accompanied by a pervasive hydrothermal alteration of the immediately surrounding wall rock. Arsenopyrite, pyrite and lesser stibnite were deposited with the alteration. Later stages of quartz-ankerite veining are barren and have the effect of diluting the gold grades in the structure. The sulphide minerals are very finegrained and disseminated in both the wall rock and early quartz and ankerite veins. Free gold is extremely rare and to the end of 2005 had not been recognized in core samples. The majority of the gold occurs in arsenopyrite and to a lesser extent in pyrite and stibnite. Because there is no visible gold and the host sulphides are very fine-grained and disseminated there is little nugget effect and gold values even over short intervals rarely exceed 1 oz/ton.

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

CommodityUnitsAvg. AnnualLOM
Gold oz 80,000693,000
All production numbers are expressed as metal in doré.

Operational metrics

Metrics
Daily ore mining rate 750 t *
Daily processing capacity 750 t *
Annual processing capacity 273,750 t *
Ore tonnes mined, LOM 2,306,000 t *
Tonnes processed, LOM 2,306 kt *
* According to 2019 study.

Production Costs

CommodityUnitsAverage
Cash costs Gold USD  ....  Subscribe
All-in sustaining costs (AISC) Gold USD  ....  Subscribe
Assumed price Gold USD  ....  Subscribe
* According to 2020 study / presentation.

Operating Costs

Currency2019
UG mining costs ($/t mined) CAD 65.3 *  
Processing costs ($/t milled) CAD  ....  Subscribe
Total operating costs ($/t milled) CAD  ....  Subscribe
* According to 2019 study.

Project Costs

MetricsUnitsLOM Total
Initial CapEx $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Pre-tax Cash Flow (LOM) $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
After-tax Cash Flow (LOM) $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
After-tax NPV @ 5% $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
After-tax NPV @ 8% $M CAD  ......  Subscribe
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Pre-tax payback period, years  ......  Subscribe
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Required Heavy Mobile Equipment

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Personnel

Mine Management

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