Argonaut ramping up Magino mill for first gold pour by mid-June

Argonaut Gold (TSX: AR) has introduced ore to the grinding circuit as it ramps up work toward the first gold pour at the Magino mill. Ore was introduced into the crushing circuit on May 13 and into the grinding circuit on May 19. The first gold pour is anticipated in mid-June.

The open pit mine and conventional carbon-in-pulp processing plant are located 40 km northeast of Wawa, Ontario. Argonaut acquired the project in 2012, and it is 100%-owned. The historic production during underground mining at the site was 114,319 oz. of gold from 803,135 tonnes of ore grading 4.43 g/t gold.

The initial 48-hour run of the mill was completed this week, and milling is scheduled to resume on June 4. Initial results indicate that throughput targets in the crushing and grinding circuits will be easily reached.

“The team is now working on achieving design availabilities as we work through instrumentation, electrical, and communications issues that are common in the startup of a process plant of this size,” said VP Canadian operations Chuck Hennessy. The mill has a throughput capacity of 10,000 t/d.

Elsewhere at the project, the tailings commissioning is complete, and all operating permits have been received to operate both the mill and tailings management facility.

The Magino mine has proven and probable reserves of 63.3 million tonnes grading 1.24 g/t gold (2.4 million contained oz.) The measured and indicated resources are 150.8 million tonnes grading 0.94 g/t gold (4.6 million contained oz.) and an inferred resource of 31.6 million tonnes grading 0.83 g/t gold (843,000 contained oz.) These resources give the project a 19-year life.