TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Vancouver-based gold miner Veris Gold on Monday said it had completed the ventilation raise and secondary escape way at its Starvation Canyon mine, in Nevada, which allowed the company to start production from the first mine to come into production at Jerritt Canyon since 2004.

The company said it had developed two zones and three production levels simultaneously, resulting in 1 035 m completed.

Veris Gold, which in October changed its name from Yukon-Nevada Gold, said it planned to produce 9 000 t of ore grading an average of 0.15 oz/t this month, after which the operation would ramp up to 600 t/d by the end of June at an average grading of 0.24 oz/t.

“The portal was started in late November and just over four months later the mine is already producing ore. Production at Starvation Canyon is a key element to the 2013 production plan for Jerritt Canyon operations and this mine is expected to produce 160 000 t this year at an average grade of 0.23 oz/t,” co-CEO and COO Randy Reichert said.

Veris Gold last week secured a second toll-milling agreement for its Jerritt Canyon mill, in Elko County, Nevada.

The company said it had entered into a toll-milling agreement with Klondex Gold and Silver Mining, a subsidiary of TSX-listed Klondex Mines, to process ore from the Fire Creek project.

Under the terms of the agreement, Veris would accept delivery of nonrefractory gold ore produced from the Fire Creek project, located nearby in Lander County, to the Jerritt Canyon mill for processing for a fee of $148.50/t, which included trucking, and could be adjusted on a quarterly basis to reflect any changes to input costs.

The Klondex agreement included an additional upfront prepayment, to be deducted from future toll-milling charges, to assist Veris to refurbish the wet mill circuit at Jerritt Canyon.

Veris said the agreement was structured similarly to that it had recently entered into with Atna Resources, whereby all dore produced from the ore remains the property of Klondex throughout the process and the associated toll-milling fee charged would be treated as a credit to Jerritt Canyon operating costs.

Reichert last week said the third-party ore processed would reduce its own production costs by making use of the excess capacity at the Jerritt Canyon mill until processing of the Fire Creek ore started in the third quarter.