Both MacLellan and Gordon deposits can be considered as belonging to the class of gold deposits referred to as orogenic.

Gold and silver mineralization can be geochemically anomalous to economic at the MacLellan site, Gordon area as well as the Burnt Timber – Linkwood areas of the southern belt. Gold is usually associated with pyrrhotite-pyrite mineralization and often with minor chalcopyrite, sphalerite, galena and arsenopyrite. Gold mineralization is often associated with narrow quartz and quartz carbonate veins and within semi-massive sulphide lenses 1 to 20 cm thick. Gold is usually very fine grained and is rarely visible and appears to be structurally controlled. The structures, usually quartz veins, are eastwest trending.

At MacLellan and Burnt Timber gold-bearing structures dip steeply to the north and are hosted in mafic flows and sediments. Gold seems to be associated with carbonate and silica alteration.

With respect to MacLellan, the high-strain-zone and accompanying hydrothermal alteration localized to the picrite flows and minor intercalated sediments, coupled with its chemical trapping characteristics created favourable conditions for gold mineralization. Hastie (2014) emphasizes the importance of brittle D4 structures, with supporting evidence for a second hydrothermal fluid event. The first gold-silver mineralizing episode, during ductile D2 shearing and alteration, is characterized by biotite ± quartz ± sulphide alteration and shows goldpyrrhotite-pyrite mineralization. The second episode of gold- silver mineralization exhibits fracture-fill Au, arsenopyrite, galena, and sphalerite, associated with D4 faulting and hydrothermal fluids with Cr- clinochlore + carbonate ± hornblende + quartz alteration. A significant increase in gold-silver mineralization near the intersections of D2 shear zones and D4 faults is noted throughout the MacLellan deposit.

At Gordon, gold is often associated with quartz veins cutting folded and contorted Iron Formation, trending east-west and dipping shallowly to the south. Au mineralization is normally trapped in sulfide replacement zones averaging 2.4 m wide, associated with thin, centimetrescale quartz- sulfide veins and breccia veins. In places, coarse gold flecks are observed within these quartz veins and in iron-carbonate altered fragments within breccia veins. Strong ironcarbonate – chlorite – amphibole alteration is related to some high grade veins.

Both the Gordon and MacLellan deposits will be developed using conventional shovel/truck open pit mining methods with owner mining assumed within the Feasibility Study. The Gordon and MacLellan deposits are expected to operate concurrently for the first six years of operation, with Gordon to be depleted first given its higher grades and lower stripping ratio. As the Gordon pit nears depletion, mining equipment will be transferred to MacLellan and utilized over the remainder of its mine life.

Following a one year pre-production period at Gordon and two-year pre-production period at MacLellan, combined mining rates are expected to range between 20.5 and 27.0 Mt of material per year over the first seven years. This includes peak mining rates of 13 Mt at Gordon and 24.7 Mt at MacLellan.

Loading of ore and waste rock is planned to be carried out with two 300 t class hydraulic shovels and two front end loaders, paired primarily with 144 t capacity mine trucks. Ore from MacLellan will be hauled to the primary crusher (located to the south of the pit). All ore from Gordon will be transported approximately 55 km to the process facility at MacLellan via a fleet of 23 highway trucks, each with a capacity of approximately 30 t.

Lynn Lake’s process plant has been designed as a conventional milling operation with a nominal capacity of 7,000 tpd. The proposed plant design is based on leach/carbon in pulp (“CIP”), and will consist of crushing, grinding, thickening, pre-aeration and leaching, CIP, cyanide detoxification, carbon elution and regeneration, and gold smelting.

The flow sheet incorporates the following major process operations:
-Two-stage crushing and stockpile,
-Semi-autogenous grinding (SAG),
-Ball mill grinding and classification,
-Leaching and CIP adsorption,
-Desorption and gold room,
-Tailings detoxification and disposal,
-Fresh and reclaim water supply, and
-Reagent preparation and distribution

The tailings management facility (“TMF”) will be constructed approximately 3 km northeast of the planned open pit and plant site at MacLellan. Additional dam raises are planned for years two, six and nine to accommodate the life of the mining operation. The majority of operational water required for the process plant will be reclaimed from the TMF.