Mining Intelligence and News
Canada

Timmins West Mine

Click for more information

Categories

Overview

Mine TypeUnderground
StatusActive
Commodities
  • Gold
Mining Method
  • Longitudinal stoping
  • Transverse stoping
  • Longhole stoping
Backfill type ... Lock
Production Start... Lock
Mine Life... Lock
SnapshotThe Timmins West Mine is a part of Timmins operation which consists of two underground gold mines, the Timmins West mine and the Bell Creek mine, which both feed the Bell Creek mill.

The Timmins West includes three mineralized gold deposits; the Timmins Deposit, Thunder Creek Deposit, and 144 Gap Deposit.
Related AssetTimmins Operation

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Lake Shore Gold Corp. (operator) 100 % Direct
Pan American Silver Corp. 100 % Indirect
Pan American Silver Corp., through its wholly owned subsidiary, Lake Shore Gold Corporation, owns and operates the Timmins West Mine (“TWM”) in Ontario, Canada.

Contractors

Lock

- subscription is required.

Deposit type

  • Vein / narrow vein
  • Metamorphic

Summary:

The setting of the TWM is characteristic of mesothermal Archean shear-hosted gold deposits. Dube and Gosselin (2007) have summarized the general consensus that greenstone-hosted quartz-carbonate vein deposits are related to metamorphism, partial melting, and thermal re-equilibration of subducted volcano-sedimentary terrains. Deep-seated, gold-transporting fluids were channeled to higher crustal levels through major crustal faults or deformation zones, similar to the Destor- Porcupine Fault Zone located about 5km south of the TWM. Enrichment of these mineralizing hydrothermal fluids was likely derived from the leaching of various components, most notably gold, from the volcano-sedimentary country rocks during fluid transport and ascension. The fluids then precipitated as vein material or wallrock replacement in second and third order structures at higher crustal levels through fluid-pressure cycling processes and other physicochemical reactions (temperature, pH, fS2, and fO2 changes).

Gold mineralization in the TWM occurs in steep north-northwest plunging mineralized zones which are also parallel to the local L4 stretching lineation. Mineralization occurs within, or adjacent to zones of strong deformation such as the Holmer and Rusk Shear Zones. Mineralization at the Timmins Deposit is hosted in multiple generations of quartz-carbonate-tourmaline (± albite) veins, associated pyrite alteration envelopes, and disseminated pyrite mineralization. Textural evidence suggests that veining formed progressively through D3 and D4 deformation events. Mineralization at the Thunder Creek and 144 Gap Deposits postdates the Alkalic Intrusive Complex (AIC), with two main generations of quartz-pyrite (± scheelite, galena, and molybdenite) veins. Veining is almost exclusively hosted in syenite-monzonite intrusions adjacent to the Rusk Shear Zone and related structures (Rhys, 2010).

The TWM includes the Timmins, Thunder Creek, and 144 Gap Deposits, all of which occur along the 144 Trend, a broad structural corridor that extends to the southwest from the Timmins Deposit area. This corridor generally coincides with the northeast trending contact zone between southeast facing mafic metavolcanic rocks of the Tisdale Assemblage (to the northwest) and dominantly southeasterly facing metasedimentary rocks of the Porcupine Assemblage (to the southeast). The contact dips steeply to the northwest and is modified, and locally deflected by folds and shear zones that are associated with gold mineralization.

Reserves

Lock

- subscription is required.

Mining Methods

Lock

- subscription is required.

Comminution

Crushers and Mills

Milling equipment has not been reported.

Processing

Lock

- subscription is required.

Production

CommodityUnits202020192018201720162015
All production numbers are expressed as metal in doré.

Operational metrics

Metrics2021202020192018201720162015
Daily processing rate  ....  Subscribe
Daily ore mining rate  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe2,800 t2,600 t
Tonnes milled  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe941,189 t956,267 t1,008,311 t924,506 t1,011,000 t
Ore tonnes mined  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe0.7 Mt

Production Costs

Commodity production costs have not been reported.

Operating Costs

Currency2017
UG mining costs ($/t milled) USD 57.8  
Processing costs ($/t milled) USD  ....  Subscribe
Total operating costs ($/t milled) USD  ....  Subscribe

Financials

Units2017
Capital expenditures M USD 29.5  
Sustaining costs M USD 29.5  

Heavy Mobile Equipment

Lock

- subscription is required.

Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Apr 3, 2024
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Apr 3, 2024
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Apr 3, 2024
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Apr 3, 2024
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Apr 3, 2024

EmployeesYear
...... Subscription required 2021

Aerial view:

Lock

- subscription is required.