VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – Vancouver-based project developer Atlantic Gold is nearing the end of dry and wet commissioning of the 87 000 oz/y Moose River Consolidated (MRC) mine, in Nova Scotia.

The TSX-V-listed emerging miner announced on Monday that commissioning activities started late in July, as originally scheduled, starting with the site being energised during the first week of July.

Construction of all surface infrastructure is substantially complete, the company advises, including the process plant and the tailings management facility.

Atlantic Gold notes that the ore stockpile pad has been prepared and that more than 1.5-million tonnes of ore is exposed in the Touquoy pit. The ore is ready for drill and blast and then haulage to the ore stockpile pad.

Commissioning of the process plant and services is progressing on plan. The crushing circuit was handed over to the Atlantic Operations team on August 24, and load tests have started. The ball mill drive has been tested and commissioned with water load test operation completed.

Meanwhile, the carbon-in-leach gold recovery tanks have all been water tested and agitators have been commissioned. A complete water loop has been completed from the ball mill, through cyclones to the leach circuit, detoxed, then recirculated by the tailings pumps to the process water tank. 

Services such as process and fresh water have been commissioned and are in service. Process water intake, the water pumping station, tailings line and the decant tower installation are expected to be fully constructed by September 3.

The process control system infrastructure installation is substantially complete with implementation of the process control system ongoing.

Atlantic Gold reported that the overall commissioning process to date has revealed no significant issues and Atlantic remains on track to produce gold in the coming weeks.

Atlantic Gold currently holds four gold development projects in Nova Scotia, including the MRC project comprising the Touquoy and the Beaver Dam gold deposits; the Cochrane Hill gold deposit, and the Fifteen Mile Stream deposit.

The Touquoy property covers an area of about 1 760 ha and Atlantic has an effective ownership interest of 63.5%, and is the project operator and manager. It will recover all operational overhead, as well as financing and sunk costs prior to any partner distributions.

Based on a 2015 feasibility study, Phase 1 economics entailed an after-tax net present value, at a 5% discount rate, of C$214-million, and an after-tax internal rate of return of 34.8%.

Production is expected at low all-in sustaining costs of $552/oz.