Overview
Stage | Preliminary Economic Assessment |
Mine Type | Open Pit |
Commodities |
|
Mining Method |
|
Mine Life | 6.5 years (as of Jan 1, 2014) |
Lexam consists of four properties: the contiguous Buffalo Ankerite, Fuller and Paymaster properties, located 3 km southeast of Timmins (Lexam South), and the Davidson Tisdale Property, located approximately 4 km northeast of Lexam South. |
Source:
p. 18, 19
On April 26, 2017, McEwen Mining Inc. completed the acquisition of 100% of the issued and outstanding common shares of Lexam by the way of the Arrangement Agreement dated February 13, 2017 and related Plan of Arrangement. The Mineral property interests acquired include the 100% interest of the Buffalo Ankerite, Fuller and Davidson Tisdale deposits and 61% interest in the Paymaster deposit located in Timmins, Ontario. The remaining 39% interest in the Paymaster property is held by Goldcorp Inc., a joint venture partner.
Contractors
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Deposit Type
- Porphyry
- Vein / narrow vein
- Breccia pipe / Stockwork
Summary:
BUFFALO ANKERITE
The mineralization is located primarily within a narrow pillowed mafic volcanic flow unit of the Central Series, Tisdale Assemblage. The volcanic rocks are complexly folded around the STA and Kayorum Syncline resulting in an S-shaped flexure in the stratigraphy. The pillowed mafic volcanic rock unit, which hosts the main mineralized domains of the Buffalo Ankerite South property, is flanked to the north and south by Hershey Lake Series magnesium-rich ultramafic flow units. In the area of the Buffalo Ankerite, the volcanic flows strike between 065° and 070°, and dip at approximately 60° to the north and thicken to the west. A discontinuous conglomerate unit is located along the contact between a flowtextured mafic volcanic rock unit and the south ultramafic rock unit. The conglomerate sedimentary rock unit is interpreted as Timiskaming in age containing mainly bleached mafic volcanic clasts with occasional porphyry and ultramafic clasts and typically follows this contact and is similarly oriented for dip. Quartz-feldspar porphyries intrude the volcanic rock units and late northwest-trending diabase dykes cut all the above rock types.
The majority of the mineralization is associated with tourmaline-quartz-carbonate breccia zones (TBX) located within a narrow pillowed mafic volcanic flow unit of the Central Series, Tisdale Assemblage. Breccia fragments are comprised of ankerite-sericite altered pillowed mafic volcanics within a tourmaline-ankeri ........

Summary:
The base case operating scenario for the Project includes open pit mining of Measured, Indicated, and Inferred Mineral Resources with direct shipping of mineralization to a toll processing facility for recovery of gold.
The mine design consists of five open pits in two areas. Four of the pits (Buffalo Ankerite South, Buffalo Ankerite North, Paymaster, and Fuller) are located in the “main cluster” approximately five kilometres southeast of Timmins city centre. The main cluster can be defined by a radius of approximately one kilometre. The fifth open pit (Davidson Tisdale) is located approximately nine kilometres to the east-northeast of Timmins city centre (approximately eight kilometres north-northeast of the main cluster).
Open pit development is characterized by relatively high stripping ratios as the primary production target is narrow steeply dipping veins. Maintaining mining selectivity to control dilution and extraction will be paramount, as well as keeping operating conditions safe as the open pits will encounter stope voids from historic underground mining operations. Initial operations will require external waste rock disposal areas, after which, pits may be backfilled.
Source:
Summary:

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Projected Production:
Commodity | Units | Avg. Annual | LOM |
Gold
|
koz
| 45 | 293 |
Operational Metrics:
Metrics | |
Stripping / waste ratio
| 9.6 * |
Daily mining rate
| 19,000 t * |
Daily ore mining rate
| 2,000 t * |
Waste tonnes, LOM
| 42.5 Mt * |
Ore tonnes mined, LOM
| 4.4 Mt * |
Total tonnes mined, LOM
| 47 Mt * |
Annual mining rate
| 6.7 Mt * |
Annual ore mining rate
| 0.7 Mt * |
* According to 2014 study.
Reserves at June 21, 2013:
Cut-Offs:
-Open Pit - 0.51 gpt (Buffalo Ankerite, Paymaster, Fuller), 0.5 gpt (Davidson Tisdale Main Zone);
- Underground - 2.57 gpt (Buffalo Ankerite, Paymaster, Fuller), 2.6 gpt Au (Davidson Tisdale Main Zone), 2.0 gpt (Davidson Tisdale S-Zone).
Category | OreType | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade | Contained Metal |
Measured
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
0.5 Mt
|
Gold
|
2.44 g/t
|
36 koz
|
Measured
|
In-Situ (UG)
|
0.4 Mt
|
Gold
|
5.56 g/t
|
64 koz
|
Indicated
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
12.1 Mt
|
Gold
|
1.89 g/t
|
741 koz
|
Indicated
|
In-Situ (UG)
|
4.1 Mt
|
Gold
|
4.82 g/t
|
628 koz
|
Measured & Indicated
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
12.6 Mt
|
Gold
|
1.91 g/t
|
777 koz
|
Measured & Indicated
|
In-Situ (UG)
|
4.4 Mt
|
Gold
|
4.88 g/t
|
692 koz
|
Inferred
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
6.3 Mt
|
Gold
|
1.79 g/t
|
358 koz
|
Inferred
|
In-Situ (UG)
|
4.2 Mt
|
Gold
|
4.35 g/t
|
596 koz
|
Mine Management:
Job Title | Name | Profile | Ref. Date |
.......................
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.......................
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Mar 19, 2022
|
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Corporate Filings & Presentations:
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