Madsen Mine mill restart and key operational milestones achieved

West Red Lake Gold Mines has provided an update on mine restart activities at the Madsen Mine, where the mill is now processing low-grade material ahead of introducing Stope 1 of the bulk sample next week. 

In addition, the camp is now housing workers, the pace of underground development continues to rise, and the Connection Drift is within 84 metres (94%) of completion. There is active development and mining in multiple areas of the mine. 

“Turning on the Madsen Mill to process the bulk sample was a very exciting moment for the entire West Red Lake Gold team, who have been working tirelessly in recent months as we push towards production,” said Shane Williams, President and CEO. “A smooth restart of this major piece of infrastructure reinforces that our level of preparation has created translated into successful operational readiness ahead of initial production. With gold prices trading at record levels, it is an exciting and fortuitous time to be making the transition from developer to producer.”

Figure 1. Recently collected rock sample with visible gold from South Austin 11 Level, specifically from Heading SA_11_987_SIL. 

 

Mill Restarted

The mill was started up on Monday March 10th after 28 months of maintained dry shutdown. Ahead of restart the Company’s mill team completed extensive pre-commissioning work, including replacing mill liners and discharge lines, cycling process water through the system, and revitalizing the CIP and carbon circuits.

The mill encountered no operational issues on restart. For the first five days the facility processed material from a legacy low-grade stockpile, after which feed transitioned to a modern stockpile of low-grade material. 

Next week the first batch of bulk sample material from Stope 1 will be processed. The stopes of the bulk sample will be processed sequentially, after which independent authorities will complete full reconciliation calculations between expected and actual tonnes, grade, and ounces for each stope.

Figure 2. Material moving on the conveyer into the Semi-Autogenous Grinding (“SAG”) mill.

Figure 3. Thickener tanks at the Madsen Mill, full and operational three days after the mill was restarted.

Figure 4. One of the six leach tanks at the Madsen Mill, full and operational three days after the mill was restarted. 

 

Camp Operational

The new 114-person workforce accommodations facility at the Madsen Mine is now housing workers. All rooms in the camp are executive junior suites. On March 18th the Company hosted a Camp Opening Celebration, with Mr Williams cutting the ribbon. 

“We are very glad that we can hire 60% of our workforce locally, which supports Red Lake and enables workers to live at home,” said Hayley Halsall-Whitney, Vice President of Operations. “This new, comfortable camp will help us attract additional quality personnel to work at Madsen and will ease pressure on housing in the community.”

Figure 5. Shane Williams speaking ahead at the opening of the Madsen Mine camp. 

 

Underground Development

The pace of underground development continues to increase, rising from 20 metres per day average in January to 23.8 metres per day average in February. Being able to access mining areas efficiently and thus create operational flexibility is essential in an underground mine, especially when a deposit requires multiple working faces. 

“Attaining a sufficient rate of development is an important requirement at Madsen and it is achieved through focused attention and strong teamwork,” said Halsall-Whitney. “I am very pleased to see this rate rising and expect to see this trend continue as the Madsen team’s skills and coordination continue to improve.”

Tags: Northern Ontario / Exploration / Gold / All Articles