The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
North of 60 Mining News - March 8, 2024
Aerial view of the Mon Mine site from 2021, before the fires of 2023 burnt through much of the area.
Aerial view of the A-Zone area looking west during past operations.
Sixty North Gold Mining Ltd. March 7 announced an update on the company's current situation after its camp was damaged due to the wildfires that spread throughout 163,000 hectares (402,781 acres) of Northwest Territories' occupied regions and outlying countryside.
Aerial view of the A-Zone area looking west during past operations.
Located about 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Yellowknife, Sixty North is focused on restarting the high-grade past-producing Mon Mine – a summer seasonal mine that operated from 1989 to 1997 and produced roughly 15,000 ounces of gold from 15,000 metric tons of ore.
Comprising 622 hectares (1,537 acres) in 11 contiguous mining leases and three mineral claims, Sixty North is also targeting recently a discovered nickel-cobalt-platinum group metals zone, silver- and gold-rich volcanogenic massive sulfide targets, as well as a giant shear zone-hosted gold mineralized zone.
The company adds that the shear zone is similar in nature and hosted in the same geology as the world-class deposits of the Con and Giant Mines near Yellowknife, which produced roughly 14 million oz of gold for 65 and 56 years, respectively.
Receiving roughly C$388,138.19 in insurance for damages sustained to its camp, Sixty North reports that all major equipment and supplies required for mining operations were not affected by the fire, but the installation of a temporary camp will be necessary to restart activities.
"We are aware that junior mining market has suffered the past few years and many shareholders have abandoned this sector, despite gold prices attaining record highs," the company penned in its announcement. "To create the most value for our current and future shareholders, we plan to execute on the project's development toward early cash flow, while minimising the effects of financing and dilution."
To help with this, the company's current strategy is to obtain the best information on the narrow vein, nuggety mineral structure and grade, with the most effective use of its scarce cash resources, which it intends to accomplish with a bulk sample.
"Our goal is to restart mining operations in a few months, developing the vein below the historic stopes and bringing gold-bearing vein material to the surface for assessment," the company wrote. "We plan to install a mill in early 2025 with gold production commencing shortly afterward."
Despite its intention to push toward production, Sixty North cautions that NI 43-101 compliance prohibits the use of certain terms like "ore" or reporting any financial details without completing preliminary feasibility or feasibility studies.
The company also adds that it believes that it would not be in the shareholders' best interests to expend the funds necessary to complete such reports at this time, stating that with all mining equipment and bulk supplies – as well as all permits for a mine and mill at 100 tons per day in place – the project's capital cost for development to production is substantially de-risked.
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