Name of the Project
Hardrock gold project.

Location
Geraldton, Ontario, Canada.

Client
Greenstone Gold Mines (GGM), a 50:50 joint venture between Centerra Gold and Premier Gold Mines.

Project Description
The project proposes conventional openpit mining techniques with 10 m benches using hydraulic shovels. The openpit operation is planned to be owner-operated, with certain support activities outsourced.

Production drilling will be done using blast-hole drill rigs with rotary and down-the-hole drilling capability.

Most of the loading in the pit will be undertaken by three hydraulic face shovels (two of them 26 m³ and one 19 m³) and two 21 m³ front-end wheel loaders. The shovels and loaders will be matched with a fleet of 181 t payload mine trucks. As the openpit is recovering resources from previously producing underground mines, the presence of mined-out stopes was considered when designing the pits. Most of the underground openings are backfilled with sand fill or rock fill. Mining of the Hardrock main pit will take place in four phases, with the smaller satellite pit to the east mined in a single phase. Waste rock will be disposed of in four distinct waste dumps, with three located around the pit and one further to the south. The openpit will generate 548.9-million tonnes of overburden and waste rock.

Gold recovery will comprise a crushing circuit (gyratory and cone), a grinding circuit (a high-pressure grinding roll, or HPGR, and a ball mill), preleach thickening, a leach and carbon-in-pulp circuit, cyanide destruction and tailings disposal, carbon elution and electrowinning, carbon regeneration and a gold refinery. The HPGR is expected to assist in reducing GGM’s operating costs and providing consistent predictable mill tonnage throughput.

The processing plant is designed to operate at a throughput of 27 000 t/d and the mill operation schedule will be 24/7, 365 d/y, with an overall availability of 92%.

Potential Job Creation
The planned peak total operating workforce will comprise 544 employees.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has an after-tax net present value, at a 5% discount rate, of $709-million and an internal rate of return of 14.4%.

Value
Initial capital expenditure is estimated at $1.25-billion.

Duration
Construction is expected to take 23 months and the total preproduction period is estimated at 42 months, which includes detailed engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning activities up to commercial production being declared.

Latest Developments
GGM has submitted the environmental-impact statement and environmental assessment (EIS/EA) to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) and the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change to start the formal environmental review process of the gold project.

GGM has worked in close consultation with local Aboriginal communities, the municipality of Greenstone and local stakeholders to ensure that their input is reflected in the final EIS/EA.

Five Ontario First Nations have provided GGM with written statements in support of the project, which will benefit the local communities and stimulate them economically. The project is expected to significantly contribute to government revenues and economic activity, including C$242-million in revenues (undiscounted) for Ontario and C$215-million for Canada. The project is also expected to increase Ontario’s gross domestic product (GDP) by C$3.1-billion in revenues (undiscounted) and Canada’s GDP by C$6.3-billion.

Project expenditure on labour, goods and services is expected to total C$480-million locally and C$1.9-billion regionally over the life of the project.

The EIS/EA application is expected to meet the requirements of the federal and provincial EA processes.

On acceptance of a complete project description, the CEAA has 45 calendar days, including a 20-day public comment period, to determine whether a federal EA is required.

An EA conducted by the CEAA must be completed within 365 days. 

This timeline starts when a notice of the start of the EA is posted on the registry Internet site, and ends when the Minister of the Environment decides whether the designated project is likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects.

The Minister may refer a project to a review panel within 60 days of the notice of the start of an EA. 

An EA by a review panel needs to be completed within 24 months.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
Too early to state.

Contact Details for Project Information
GGM, tel +1 905 829 3134 or fax +1 905 829 7880.
Premier Gold Mines manager of corporate development and investor relations Matthew Gollat, tel +1 807 346 1390, 
fax +1 888 346 1390 or email mgollat@premiergoldmines.com.
Centerra Gold VP of investor relations John Pearson, tel +1 416 204 1953 or email john.pearson@centerragold.com.