Overview
| Stage | Production |
| Mine Type | Open Pit & Underground |
| Commodities |
|
| Mining Method |
- Truck & Shovel / Loader
- Longhole stoping
- Cemented backfill
|
| Production Start | ...  |
| Mine Life | 2032 |
The Phase 2 mill expansion is expected to be completed in mid-2024 when the processing rate is forecast to increase to 6,000 tpd. Engineering work and procurement activities are progressing according to plan. The construction of the CIL, filter-press and power plant facilities has commenced, with piling completed and architectural work expected to start in the fourth quarter of 2022. |
Source:
p. 22, 30
Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd directly owns 100% of the Meliadine mine.
Contractors
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Deposit Type
- Banded iron formation hosted
- Vein / narrow vein
- Breccia pipe / Stockwork
Summary:
The Meliadine gold project is located in the Archean Rankin Inlet Greenstone Belt, in the Churchill Structural Province of the northern Canadian Shield. This belt consists of mafic volcanic rocks, felsic pyroclastic rocks, sedimentary rocks and gabbro sills of about 2.7 billion years old that have been polydeformed and metamorphosed. The Meliadine trend is defined by northwest-trending rock units as well as a major fault zone known as the Pyke Fault: a high-strain zone characterized by multiple foliations and regionally important shear zones.
The Meliadine gold district comprises a combination of orogenic greenstone- and banded iron formation (“BIF”) hosted gold mineralization. Gold in the district is associated with hydrothermally altered and sulphidized BIF (Lawley, et al., 2013).
Seven gold deposits have been identified at the Meliadine project, of which Tiriganiaq is the most significant. The other deposits are the Discovery, F zone, Wesmeg, Normeg, Wolf and Pump. The Normeg deposit, discovered in 2012, is a southern expansion of the Tiriganiaq deposit, and extends as far as the Wesmeg deposit. Gold mineralization in these seven deposits is mostly mesothermal quartz-vein-dominated gold systems in strongly sheared and complexly folded host rocks of Archean turbidites, iron formation and volcanic rocks. Within each deposit are many gold-bearing lodes of quartz vein stockwork, laminated veins and sulphidized iron formation with strike lengths of up to ........
Mining Methods
- Truck & Shovel / Loader
- Longhole stoping
- Cemented backfill
Summary:
Mining at Meliadine will be carried out through ten open pits and two underground mining operations. Underground access is by decline, with long-hole mining methods. Each stope is backfilled, with cemented pastefill and/or cemented rockfill used in primary stopes and dry rockfill for the secondary stopes. A conventional truck/shovel operation is used for the open pits. Mining in 2021 occurred by both underground and open pit at Tiriganiaq.
An underground portal allowing access to an exploration ramp was built at the Tiriganiaq deposit in 2007 and 2008 to extract a bulk sample for study purposes. This ramp now provides access for services, underground activities and personnel transportation. The construction of a second portal was completed in 2018. The main purpose of this second portal is for production activities, including bringing ore to the crusher feeding the mill.
Source:
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Flow Sheet:
Summary:
- subscription is required.
Reserves at December 31, 2021:
The 2021 proven and probable mineral reserves were estimated using a metallurgical gold recovery ranging from 86.7% to 96.5% depending on the deposit and grade. The cut-off grades used for open pit mineral reserves varied from 1.75 to 2.50 g/t gold depending on deposit and grade. The cut-off grades used for underground mineral reserves varied from 1.75 to 4.45 g/t gold diluted.
Gold cut-off grades used for mineral resource estimates were fixed at 75% of the applicable mineral reserve cut-off grade.
| Category | OreType | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade | Contained Metal |
|
Proven
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
437 kt
|
Gold
|
3.56 g/t
|
50 koz
|
|
Proven
|
In-Situ (UG)
|
1,145 kt
|
Gold
|
7.28 g/t
|
268 koz
|
|
Proven
|
Total
|
1,582 kt
|
Gold
|
6.25 g/t
|
318 koz
|
|
Probable
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
5,085 kt
|
Gold
|
4.79 g/t
|
782 koz
|
|
Probable
|
In-Situ (UG)
|
12,495 kt
|
Gold
|
6.35 g/t
|
2,553 koz
|
|
Probable
|
Total
|
17,580 kt
|
Gold
|
5.9 g/t
|
3,335 koz
|
|
Proven & Probable
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
5,522 kt
|
Gold
|
4.69 g/t
|
832 koz
|
|
Proven & Probable
|
In-Situ (UG)
|
13,640 kt
|
Gold
|
6.43 g/t
|
2,821 koz
|
|
Proven & Probable
|
Total
|
19,162 kt
|
Gold
|
5.93 g/t
|
3,653 koz
|
|
Measured
|
In-Situ (UG)
|
250 kt
|
Gold
|
4.23 g/t
|
34 koz
|
|
Measured
|
Total
|
250 kt
|
Gold
|
4.23 g/t
|
34 koz
|
|
Indicated
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
4,636 kt
|
Gold
|
3.31 g/t
|
493 koz
|
|
Indicated
|
In-Situ (UG)
|
13,133 kt
|
Gold
|
4.07 g/t
|
1,720 koz
|
|
Indicated
|
Total
|
17,769 kt
|
Gold
|
3.87 g/t
|
2,213 koz
|
|
Measured & Indicated
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
4,636 kt
|
Gold
|
3.31 g/t
|
493 koz
|
|
Measured & Indicated
|
In-Situ (UG)
|
13,383 kt
|
Gold
|
4.08 g/t
|
1,754 koz
|
|
Measured & Indicated
|
Total
|
18,019 kt
|
Gold
|
3.88 g/t
|
2,247 koz
|
|
Inferred
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
567 kt
|
Gold
|
4.69 g/t
|
86 koz
|
|
Inferred
|
In-Situ (UG)
|
11,141 kt
|
Gold
|
6.16 g/t
|
2,207 koz
|
|
Inferred
|
Total
|
11,709 kt
|
Gold
|
6.09 g/t
|
2,293 koz
|
Corporate Filings & Presentations:
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