North 2003
Section Index
Mining in Northern Canada
Hope Bay mine may open 2005Miramar has high hopes for Nunavut property / Gold reserves estimated at four million ounces
Nunavut's newest gold mine is scheduled to open within two years.
Results from a study confirmed that Miramar Mining Corporation's Hope Bay property is viable, based on a gold price of $325 US an ounce.
Vancouver-based Miramar will move a modular camp and mill processing equipment to Hope Bay this summer. Mining will begin in early 2005 on the Doris North site.
The first mine has a life of just two years, but Miramar actually expects to be processing ore at Hope Bay well beyond 2007.
The plan is to get a small operation up and running, generate some cash, then pull reserves into the mill from other Hope Bay sites. The project has potential to use both open pit and underground mining techniques.
Hope Bay belt
Three separate gold deposits have been defined on the Hope Bay belt. The largest deposit, Boston, is located near the south end of the belt with the Doris and Madrid deposits sitting on the north end. The proposed mine is close to Bathurst inlet - the Arctic Ocean - making it convenient for barging in supplies in the summer months.
Hope Bay's gold reserves are estimated at about four million ounces with resource estimates of 1.6 million ounces of measured and indicated gold and 2.7 million ounces of inferred gold on all three deposits. There are two other discoveries in the Madrid area, the Naartok and Suluk.
The Doris North plant will process an average 668 tonnes of ore per day, but is designed for 800 tonnes a day to accommodate future production increases. The plant should have a 10-year operating life.
Initial plant production is estimated at 150,000 ounces of gold per year.
Miramar estimates production costs at $109 US for an ounce of gold.
According to the feasibility study, the mine's capital costs are estimated at $39.3 million.
The project is forecast to generate 69.3 million dollars, a 136 per cent return rate.
The project will employ 150 people from the Kitikmeot.
The mine site is four kilometres from the coast near the company's Windy Lake exploration camp, just east of Bathurst Inlet.
Miramar is spending $17.5 million on Hope Bay exploration this year, including 43,000 metres of core drilling.
More than $115 million has been spent so far to define Hope Bay's gold resources.
Earlier this spring, Miramar filed a draft environmental impact statement with the Nunavut Impact Review Board.
It is negotiating impacts/benefits agreements with the Kitikmeot Inuit Association and working out production leases with Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.
Miramar expects to have permits by the end of 2003.
If the company secures financing, underground mining will start by mid-2004. The process plant would start in 2005.
Miramar is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange as MAE and the American Stock Exchange as MNG.
-Updated August 2003
