Musselwhite Gold Mine keeps extending its life by exploration

By Gregory Reynolds

Although the Musselwhite Gold Mine belonging to Goldcorp Inc. is 26 years old, its future is brighter than ever.

Musselwhite is a low-grade underground operation in a remote corner of Northern Ontario, 430 km north of Thunder Bay.

Since achieving its first commercial production in April of 1997, Musselwhite has produced over three million ounces of gold. The 2010 discovery of the Lynx Zone-a zone of higher-grade ore above the cornerstone PQ Deeps underground operation-has created the potential to significantly enhance economics and extend productive mine life.

Exploration continues to test other high-potential lateral targets and extension of existing gold structures.

The workforce is 855, including contractors, and the mine has an estimated life of 13 more years. The 2013 production run through a 4,500 tonnes per day mill is estimated between 250,000 and 260,000 ounces.

Gold production for 2012 was 239,200 ounces as against 242,600 in 2011.

Goldcorp says at Musselwhite gold production is expected to increase slightly as mining continues to progress in the PQ Deeps and Lynx zones. Exploration will continue to focus on the northern extension of the Lynx Zone from surface and underground, drilling of the West Limb and the underground extension of the PQ Deeps. Surface drilling from barges has returned encouraging results on the Lynx Zone and additional mineralized shear zones have been intersected on the West Limb.

Musselwhite contained 2.29 million ounces of proven and probable gold reserves at Dec. 31, 2012, compared to 2.28 million ounces at Dec. 31, 2011, due to exploration success in the Lynx and PQ Deeps and a higher gold price assumption. Increased reserves were partially offset by revisions to reserves in the PQ Deeps.

Exploration drilling in 2012 continued to focus on the extension of the Lynx Zone, both from the surface and underground, with initial surface and underground exploration of the West Limb area. Underground drilling extended the Lynx Zone mineralization by 175 metres northwards and 50 metres southwards and defined a small intraformational unit in the hanging wall of the surface along the upper portion of the ore body.

Surface and underground drilling was completed for the first full drill section on the West Limb target, with the intersection of a number of shear zones and encouraging results.

Two prospectors, brothers Harold and Alan Musselwhite, found erratic gold mineralization in 1962 on the north side of Opapimiskan Lake. They continued to explore the area until 1973 when several large mining companies became involved. One of them was Placer Dome and it, along with partner TVX, decided to put the deposit into production.

The mine opened in 1997 and over time several major ore zones were found on the lower limbs of the PQ Deeps synform adjacent to the original T-Antiform ore zones.

Goldcorp became sole owner of the mine in 2007.

The Musselwhite mine operates near the territory of four First Nation villages: Cat Lake, Round Lake, Wunnumin Lake and Kingfisher Lake. The closest of these villages is located about 50 km from the actual mining sites.

Agreements guarantee jobs and training for Aboriginals.