Monarch plans production for Val D’or Beaufor Mine by end of 2021

By Kevin Vincent, Mining Life

Barring any unforeseen obstacles, Val D’or will soon be home to the Abitibi-Greenstone Belt’s newest gold producer, Monarch Mining’s Beaufor Mine.

In the meantime, Monarch increased the size of its McKenzie Break property just as President Jean-Marc Lacoste told markets earlier this year that the company expects to be in production at Beaufor by late 2021

Monarch Mining Corporation (GBAR-TSX) was formed after the friendly acquisition of Monarch Gold by Yamana Gold in November of last year.

Yamana entered into a definitive agreement with Monarch Gold Corporation whereby Yamana acquired the Wasamac property and the Camflo property and mill through the acquisition of all of the outstanding shares of Monarch not owned by Yamana under a plan of arrangement for consideration, including cash and shares, of approximately C$152 million.

In connection with the plan of arrangement, Monarch completed a spin-out to its shareholders, through the newly-formed company, Monarch Mining Corporation, of its other mineral properties and certain other assets and liabilities of Monarch.

The McKenzie Break upsizing is thanks to map-staking of 36 new mining cells totalling 1,940 hectares (19.4 km2), extending the property southward. The wholly-owned McKenzie Break project is located 25 kilometres north of Val-d’Or.

“We are very pleased to have put together a promising gold property of such significant size, in one of the most prolific mining camps,” said Jean-Marc Lacoste, President and Chief Executive Officer of Monarch. “We are continuing to follow the mineralization southwards within the diorite unit on McKenzie Break with our 2021 14,500-metre drilling program, for which some results are already pending. These new claims will allow us to test the southern extension of the favourable geology in an area with relatively little past exploration.” 

Monarch acquired the original 386.6-hectare McKenzie Break property from Agnico Eagle Mines Limited in 2017 and expanded the property in 2020 through additional purchase agreements with local prospectors and map-based staking. The February 2021 staking expands the property to 169 claims covering 7,070 hectares (70.7 km2). Located 20 kilometres north of the Beacon mill and 10 kilometres south of the municipality of Barraute, Québec, the property is accessible year-round via Route 397 and a gravel road and includes a portal and a 700-metre ramp driven in 2009.

Monarch Mining is continuing to advance exploration at the Beaufor mine, with the goal of growing the resource and restarting production in a timeframe that takes advantage of the favourable gold market.

The latest resource estimate for Beaufor suggests there is still significant mineralisation according to Lacoste. It is the company’s goal to restart the mine in the next 8 to 14 months, he said publicly at the beginning of 2021.

The 2020 mineral resource estimate area covers a strike length of about 1.5 km by a width of 900 m, down to vertical depth of 1 200 m below the surface. The estimate indicates that measured resources of 121 000 t at 5.62 g/t for 21 900 oz and indicated resources of 310 100 at 7.10 g/t for 70 800 oz.

Inferred resources are 134 600 t at 6.96 g/t for 30 100 oz.

Commercial production at Beaufor began in the early 1930s and over the years it has produced more than 1.1-million ounces.

Monarch Mining Corporation has a total of four properties within the Abitibi-Greenstone Belt.

 

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