The Island Gold Property is located in the Michipicoten Greenstone Belt (MGB) which is part of the Wawa Subprovince within the Archaean Superior Province. The MGB is approximately 140 km long and up to 45 km wide. The metamorphic grade of the subprovince is greenschist but amphibolite facies can be seen locally or proximal to intrusions. A major regional deformation zone called the Goudreau Lake Deformation Zone (GLDZ) is situated throughout the area. It is a north-easterly trending structure which has been traced along strike for 30 km with a width of 4.5 km and believed to be the main control of gold mineralization for the Project area. It is a high angle oblique-slip fault zone with an overall dextral movement cutting stratigraphy at a shallow angle. There are three main splays to the GLDZ in the area, the southernmost of which hosts the Island Gold Mine structure which contains a stacked sequence of east-northeast striking, steeply dipping, and subparallel zones of gold mineralization.

Lithologies appear to form a conformable homoclinal volcano-stratigraphic sequence, facing and younging to the north in the project area. Tight to isoclinal folds and local attenuation or boudinage of units along fold limbs appear to occur regionally. Fold axes are subparallel to the regional foliation at N070°E to N095°E.

The Island Gold Mine is stratigraphically positioned in the upper portion of the Wawa Assemblage, on the northern limb of the Goudreau Anticline. This assemblage is mostly composed of felsic volcanic rocks of various facies of tuffs and lavas.

Quartz veins commonly bear visible gold in the form of aggregates, disseminated fine grains or along chlorite-sericite slickensides within the veins. The degree of veining appears to change at depth, transitioning from a stringer style quartz-carbonate vein on scales between millimeter to larger scale veins which can be over 4 metres in width.

The Island Gold deposit is composed of multiple, stacked, south dipping lenses. The mineralized corridor expands from 50 m wide in the upper levels to over 150 m wide at depth. The zone’s dip varies from sub-vertical to vertical from -50° to -90° south. Locally, north dip reversals occur but are not common. Rare instances of offset or folding have been seen. Around the 400 metre level there is a shallow dipping southern inflection of the mineralized zones. It is not yet clear if this inflection is related to a fault, a shear zone, or a fold. This inflection point is the division of what is locally referred to as the Upper Island Gold Mine and the Lower Island Gold Mine.

The Island Gold Mine is an Archean orogenic lode gold deposit. It is a structurally hosted quartzcarbonate vein system situated within the Goudreau Lake Deformation Zone (GLDZ), a major regional brittle-ductile structure. The host terrane is a sequence of felsic to intermediate volcanic rocks of the Wawa Assemblage which are in the greenschist metamorphic range as is common for this type of deposit. High strain zones associated with the GLDZ have the tendency to develop at variable scales along lithologic unit contacts where complex geology and related competency contrasts can control stress patterns and facilitate shearing and the consequent development of dilatancy zones and concomitant quartz carbonate vein formation. It is generally accepted that these Archean orogenic lode gold deposits are related to compressional and transpressional tectonics and the associated metamorphic dewatering and devolatization of magma processes from which the gold bearing fluids are derived.

Longitudinal long-hole open stoping will continue to be utilized as the primary mining method with both the addition of the shaft and paste plant key elements to supporting the increase in mining rates to 2,400 tpd. Relative to the P3 2000 Study, the paste plant has been sized with a 20% larger capacity.

Shaft
The main components of the shaft infrastructure are unchanged from the P3 2000 Study with the exception of the addition of a bin house and hoist drive cooling building. The bin house will allow for a more efficient and lower cost transfer of ore and waste to haul trucks on surface.

A 5.0 metre diameter concrete lined shaft will be constructed with a steel head frame. The shaft will house two 12 tonne skips in dedicated compartments for ore and waste movement, and a double-deck service cage for the transport of personnel and materials. The shaft will be sunk to an initial depth of 1,373 metres. The hoisting plant is designed for an ultimate depth of 2,000 metres providing flexibility to accommodate future exploration success. At the initial depth of 1,373 metres, the shaft has a capacity of 4,500 tpd, more than sufficient to accommodate the peak mining rates of 3,600 tpd (ore & waste).

A conventional blind sink methodology will be utilized providing improved schedule reliability with minimal impact on existing operations. The underground ore and waste handling and loading pocket will be a conventional configuration similar to that of Young-Davidson. Once skipped to surface, ore will be trucked to the expanded mill circuit.

The Island Gold deposit is accessed via a single decline from surface down to the 425 Level, at which point multiple ramps are utilized to access the main IG, IG West, Extension and East zones. These ramps are also connected at numerous points throughout the mine allowing for easy travel between mining zones.

Presently, level accesses are designed towards the center of the ore vein and stopes are mined longitudinally from sill extremities towards the level intersection. As mining progresses deeper level accesses are designed to access the extents of the deposit with stopes being mined from the center towards the extremities to support improved mining stress management.

The mining method for a particular stope is selected based on a variety of factors such as overall geometry of the mineralization, width of the ore zone, local stresses, mapping and geotechnical data, spatial location of the stope, and existing nearby development and infrastructure. Other factors considered include equipment size and limitations as well as available fill type. Presently, stoping is undertaken with longitudinal open stoping (modified Avoca) and transverse open stoping. A limited amount of Alimak stoping will be undertaken, beginning in 2021.

Paste plant
As with the P3 2000 Expansion, a paste plant will be constructed; however, it will be sized 20% larger to accommodate the higher mining rates. The addition of paste fill underground will allow for faster stope cycling, thereby supporting higher mining rates and providing increased geotechnical stability. It will also increase mining recovery resulting in an additional 140,000 ounces of gold recovered over the life of mine, with an in-situ value of $231 million at a gold price of $1,650 per ounce. Further, 44% of tailings will be placed underground reducing tailings dam raise requirements over the mine life.

Mobile fleet
Mining rates are expected to begin ramping up from the current 1,200 tpd rate in 2025 and reach design rates of 2,400 tpd by the end of 2026. This will be supported by a significantly smaller mobile fleet than required under the current ramp operation. Post completion of the shaft, a total of five haul trucks will be required to support a mining rate of 2,400 tpd. This compares to a peak of 18 haul trucks required to sustain ramp haulage at 1,200 tpd. This contributes to the lower ventilation requirements, and significantly lower diesel usage. The Phase 3+ Expansion is expected to reduce GHG emissions by 35% over the life of mine while further reducing Island Gold’s already industry-low GHG emissions per ounce by 31%.

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The P3 2000 mill expansion included upgrading the crushing circuit, adding a second parallel ball mill, and a new elution and carbon in pulp (“CIP”) circuit with carbon screens. The P3+ mill expansion will increase the capacity to 2,400 tpd, double the current capacity of 1,200 tpd. The expanded circuit will be a conventional milling operation with additional scope changes to accommodate the higher throughput rates. These include a new crushing circuit, a covered stockpile, a larger ADR and the conversion of the existing CIP circuit to carbon in leach (“CIL”) while adding three new tanks.

The flow sheet of the new circuit includes upgrades and expansions for the following major process operations:
• New two-stage crushing plant;
• New covered ore stockpile and feeders;
• Additional ball mill and convert existing circuit to two trains;
• Upgrade feed well on existing pre-leach thickener;
• Convert existing five leach tanks to CIL and add three new la ........