The Bell Creek properties are underlain by carbonate altered, greenschist facies Archean-aged, metavolcanic and clastic metasedimentary rock. The metavolcanic portion of the stratigraphy represents the lower portion of the Tisdale Assemblage (Brisbin, 1997; Pyke, 1982). The Krist Formation is absent from the Property (Berger, 1998). The clastic metasedimentary rocks belong to the Porcupine assemblage. Lithologies generally strike east-west, to west-northwest, and are steeply dipping.

Regionally, gold bearing structures most commonly form in relatively competent volcanic rocks intruded by felsic porphyry stocks and dykes prior to the deposition of the Timiskaming Assemblage sedimentary rocks. Porphyries dating from 2691 ± 3 Ma to 2688 ± 2 Ma intruded the already folded and faulted greenstone sequences and initiated the mesothermal systems with the formation of associated albitites. Observations of pyrrhotite and gold-mineralized clasts within Timiskaming conglomerates at both the Pamour and the Dome mines, located approximately 5km southeast and 10km south-southwest of the Property respectively, suggest a prolonged gold deposition event from the creation of the steep south dipping DPF zone up to the latest episode of crustal stabilization (Butler, 2008).

Berger (1998) describes the gold mineralization in the Bell Creek area as occurring along selvages of quartz veins and wall rocks, in stylolitic fractures in quartz veins, in fine grained pyrite and pyrrhotite, and in association with amorphous carbon. High grade gold mineralization occurs mostly as replacement style pyrite and pyrrhotite mineralization in the wall rock of quartz veins located within alteration zones and sometimes as free gold within these quartz veins. The alteration zones are characterized by carbonate, graphitic and amorphous carbon, fine grained pyrite, sericite, and/or paragonite and are enriched in Au, arsenic (“As”), bismuth, and tungsten.

The Bell Creek mineralization differs in style from many deposits in the area in being composed largely of disseminated, replacement style pyrite-pyrrhotite-related mineralization. Slightly younger gold-bearing quartz veins may be present but are not predominant. This style of mineralization occurs in the deeper parts of the Dome Mine and in the Rusk Zone at the Timmins West mine, but is more common to the east, in the Holloway-Holt McDermott area and at the Larder Lake, where pyritic mineralization is often termed “flow ore” (Rhys 2012).

The most significant gold mineralization at Bell Creek occurs in two lithostructural settings: a) near or along an ultramafic-to-mafic contact zones (the Bell Creek and West Zone), and b) within the mafic volcanics sequence (North Zones).

The Porcupine area is well known for hosting several types of mineral deposit types including:
• base metal deposits such as Glencore’s Kidd Creek Mine, which is a volcanogenic massive sulphide deposit;
• industrial mineral deposits such as the Penhorwood talc deposit;
• and most notably numerous mesothermal Archean shear-hosted gold deposits.

Mesothermal gold deposits comprise high Fe or high ratio Fe/ (Fe + Mg) greenstone type rocks that induce sulphidization reactions and gold precipitation and are thought to have formed during the final orogenic phases of Archean tectonism. Regionally, deposits occur in the vicinity of large deformation zones associated with secondary or tertiary deformation. Cox (2000) describes the development of most mesothermal gold systems along active and permeable low displacement faults and shear zones adjacent to large crustal scale deformation zones. Clusters of large deposits commonly occur in greenschist-facies, and, to a lesser extent, amphibolite-facies, country rocks (Butler, 2008).

Bell Creek is a part of the Timmins operation which is also includes the Timmins West mine, which both feed the Bell Creek mill.

Bell Creek Mill produces gold in the form of doré bars. The bars are a blend from the Timmins West Mine and Bell Creek. The doré bar’s historical weighted average gold grade has been 84.9% and has ranged between 61.6% and 91.7%.

Bell Creek consists mainly of multiple nearly parallel narrow gold veins that are steeply dipping. This steepness of the veins allows for longhole extraction methods. Main mining veins trend East-West with some convergence observed between the 1185mL and down to 1450mL, including some north-south trending.

The Bell Creek mineral reserves will continue to be extracted using underground mining methods and is accessed via the existing shaft and portal/ramp from surface.

The primary access to the underground workings will continue to be via the existing Bell Creek shaft, and ore and waste rock will be trucked to the existing 1000mL grizzly/rockbreaker station for sizing and subsequent skipping to surface. Secondary access/egress to/from the underground are via the existing portal and ramp to surface, and internal raises equipped with escape ways.

Shaft and Hoisting Facilities
The existing shaft is a 6.3 m by 2.6 m rectangular, three compartment shaft. The top 290m of the shaft have timber sets installed, while the remaining 760m have fabricated steel sets. Shaft stations can be used to access the shaft from the ramp on 1000, 790, 535 and 300m levels. The shaft station on the 1000mL is currently the primary access to the mine. The shaft is equipped with a cage for transporting personnel which significantly reduces the pre and post shift travelling times between surface and the 1000mL. The 1040mL to 1000mL ore bin, loading pocket and skip system is used to transport ore and waste up to surface. The shaft includes two skip compartments (9.3 tonne capacity bottom dump skips), a service cage compartment (8-person capacity triple deck cage), and service compartment for fuel, piping and electrical services. The shaft does not have an escapeway compartment. The existing steel headframe includes a collar house and chute to dump ore and waste to an outside pad.

The existing production hoist is a Hepburn, 3.6 m (12 foot) diameter double drum, single clutch hoist, powered by 2 x 1118.5 kW (2 x 1,500 horsepower) AC motors. Combined with the 9.3 tonne skips, the plant has capacity to hoist 4,900 tonnes per day, at the current hoisting depth of 1,040m and hoisting speeds of 11 M/S (2,200 FPM).

The existing service hoist is a 2.44 m (8 foot) diameter single drum Hepburn hoist, powered by a single 1118.5 kW (1,500 horsepower) AC motor. Combined with the 24-person triple deck cage, currently traveling at 4 M/S (800 FPM) and capable of 7 M/S (1400 FPM).

Broken ore and waste rock are hauled to separate ore and waste dumps/rockbreaker arrangements near the shaft at 1000L. Broken material is dumped onto grizzlies and sized with stationary hydraulic rockbreakers. The sized ore material feeds either of two 2,000 tonne capacity rock bins.

Stoping Methods
Veins to be narrow vein longhole mined are developed on the level nominally 3.0m wide by 3.0m high under geology control. When a vein has been developed on a bottom and top level and the ore outline has been verified by geology, slashing may be required on engineering control to provide proper access for longhole drilling. A slot raise can then be designed and drilled. Slot raises are typically drilled 2.4m high by 2.4m wide and usually designed at the furthest point from the stope access. Blast holes are then designed and drilled on vertical planes retreating away from the slot raise towards the stope access. Blast holes are typically drilled at 2 ½” in diameter with a burden and toe spacing of 1.2-1.5m and 1.2-1.5m respectively. The blast holes are then timed with the use of detonators blasted with ammonium nitrate/fuel oil in a series of vertical slices retreating from the slot raise. The blasted rock is mucked by remote scoop from the lower level drift.

Below 1000mL onwards, active mining area sublevels have been established at 20-23 m vertical intervals and this sublevel spacing will be maintained for remaining sublevels. On each sublevel, the resource is accessed near the centre (along strike) and stope undercut and overcut sills developed to the east and west extents. Stope lengths are generally 20m along strike however stopes abutting waste or low grade material may be marginally longer or shorter to optimize recovery. A 3 m rib pillar is recommended to be left between down hole stopes that are to be backfilled with waste rock and a 5 m rib pillar between up hole stopes, which will not be backfilled. Longitudinal mining will retreat from the furthest stope from the access, toward the initial access point. The resource is mined “top down” in blocks as ramp development advances.

Haulage
All ore and waste rock skipped to surface is hauled by trucks to the existing production shaft, 1000L grizzly/rockbreaker stations. Ore hauled from stopes and development above the 505L (inclusively) is hauled directly to surface via the main ramp/portal where it is stockpiled. All ore extracted below 505L is sent to 1000L grizzly/rockbreaker for sizing followed by skipping to surface. 42 and 50 tonne capacity haul trucks are used for these hauls.

The existing ramp extends from surface to 1450L. The ramp profile is 5m wide by 5m high (arched back) at a maximum gradient of 15 percent.

Backfill
Backfilling consists of placing broken development waste muck (unconsolidated rock fill (“URF”)) into voids created from stope extraction using scoop trams.

- subscription is required.

Ore from Bell Creek is hauled from the surface stockpile to the mill’s crusher, located on site. The designed 5,359 tonne per day processing plant consists of a one stage crushing circuit, ore storage dome, one-stage grinding circuit with gravity recovery, followed by pre-oxidation and cyanidation of the slurry with carbonin-leach (“CIL”) and CIP recovery. Ore from the Company’s Timmins West Mine is also processed through the Bell Creek Mill.

Flocculent is added to the cyclone overflow and is pumped to a 20 m diameter thickener. The slurry from the cyclones is 25-35% solids by weight with the thickener underflow at 55-60% solids by weight. The thickener overflow water is pumped to the process water tank and reused in the grinding process. The thickener underflow slurry is pumped to the leach circuit. The leach circuit consists of five agitated tanks in series with a total volume of 1,940 cubic metres (“m3 ”). Pure oxygen is sparged into the first three leach tanks to passiva ........