Overview
| Status | Care and Maintenance |
| Mine Type | Underground |
| Commodities |
|
| Mining Method |
- Overhand Cut & Fill
- Underhand Cut & Fill
- Longhole stoping
|
| Processing |
- Gravity separation
- Counter current decantation (CCD)
- Concentrate leach
- Agitated tank leaching
- Carbon in pulp (CIP)
- Carbon adsorption-desorption-recovery (ADR)
- Solvent Extraction & Electrowinning
- Cyanide (reagent)
|
| Mine Life | 18 years (as of Jan 1, 2011) |
Gold production at Musselwhite was limited to 3,000 gold ounces since the completion of the acquisition of the Musselwhite mine site as part of the Newmont Goldcorp transaction. There was no gold production in the second half of 2019 following a conveyor fire in March 2019. Musselwhite resumed mining activities in the third quarter of 2019 and will continue stockpiling ore mined until processing activities are restarted, which is expected in the first half of 2020. |
Source:
p. 4
| Company | Interest | Ownership |
|
Newmont Corp.
|
100 %
|
Indirect
|
|
Goldcorp Canada Ltd.
(operator)
|
100 %
|
Direct
|
The Musselwhite Mine (Musselwhite) is operated by Goldcorp Canada Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Goldcorp, Inc.
Deposit Type
- Vein / narrow vein
- Iron formation hosted
Summary:
The mineralization at Musselwhite can be classified as an Iron Formation hosted gold deposit. Typically, gold in these deposits occurs in cross-cutting quartz veins and veinlets or as fine disseminations associated with pyrite, pyrrhotite, and arsenopyrite hosted in iron formations and adjacent rocks within volcanic or sedimentary sequences (McMillan 1996).
Mesothermal veins.
Mineralization is predominantly hosted within meta-chemical sediments (banded iron formations) and in particular within garnet-magnetite-grunerite facies meta-banded iron formations (locally termed the Northern Iron Formation). The location of mineralization is controlled by the intersection of shear zones and folded meta-banded iron formations. These geological controls result in mineralized shoots, which plunge at approximately 15 degrees to grid north, have a down dip extent of up to 150 metres, down plunge continuation in excess of 1.5 kilometres, and across-lithology width of up to 10 metres. Mineralized zones are characterized by abundant pyrrhotite, quartz flooding and, rarely, visible gold.
Mining Methods
- Overhand Cut & Fill
- Underhand Cut & Fill
- Longhole stoping
Summary:
Processing Technologies
- Gravity separation
- Counter current decantation (CCD)
- Concentrate leach
- Agitated tank leaching
- Carbon in pulp (CIP)
- Carbon adsorption-desorption-recovery (ADR)
- Solvent Extraction & Electrowinning
- Cyanide (reagent)
Source:
Summary:
The mine site consists of a potable water treatment plant, crushing plant, mill and tailings complex, tailings thickener facility, groundwater interception system, conveying system, shop/warehouse and other ancillary facilities.
The milling facility uses two-stage crushing to reduce the ore and conventional gold extraction techniques to concentrate the gold. The tailings or residue from this process is washed with incoming tailings reclaim water in thickeners to recover cyanide. Residual cyanide is treated by an INCO SO2 cyanide destruct system prior to being pumped to the tailings thickener plant (installed in 2010) which is located in the Tailings Management Area (TMA) approximately 3 km west of the plant site.
The use of cyanide begins with the grinding area, which uses re-circulated cyanide bearing solution from the counter current decantation (CCD) wash circuit as process water within the grinding mills, Knelson concentrators, Delkor linear screen and pump b ........
Recoveries & Grades:
| Commodity | Parameter | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 |
|
Gold
|
Recovery Rate, %
| ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... |
|
Gold
|
Head Grade, g/t
| 5.96 | 6.2 | 7.17 | 7.15 | 7.38 | 5.92 | 6.03 |
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Production:
| Commodity | Units | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 |
|
Gold
|
koz
| ...... | ...... | 236 | 261 | 270 | 278 |
All production numbers are expressed as metal in doré.
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Operational Metrics:
| Metrics | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 |
|
Tonnes milled
| ...... | ...... | 1,188 kt | 1,209,200 t | 1,221,200 t | 1,391,800 t |
|
Daily milling capacity
| ...... | ...... | 4,500 t | | | |
|
Daily milling rate
| ...... | ...... | | 3,310 t | 3,350 t | 3,810 t |
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Reserves at December 31, 2019:
| Category | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade | Contained Metal |
|
Proven
|
4,900 kt
|
Gold
|
6.48 g/t
|
1,020 koz
|
|
Probable
|
5,000 kt
|
Gold
|
6.57 g/t
|
1,070 koz
|
|
Proven & Probable
|
9,900 kt
|
Gold
|
6.52 g/t
|
2,090 koz
|
|
Measured
|
1,800 kt
|
Gold
|
4.04 g/t
|
230 koz
|
|
Indicated
|
4,600 kt
|
Gold
|
4.09 g/t
|
600 koz
|
|
Measured & Indicated
|
6,400 kt
|
Gold
|
4.08 g/t
|
830 koz
|
|
Inferred
|
3,200 kt
|
Gold
|
4.37 g/t
|
440 koz
|
Corporate Filings & Presentations:
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Aerial view:
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