Nunavut's newest gold mine will be up and running in 2017, company says

TMAC Resources' Hope Bay project in Nunavut's Kitikmeot region will begin processing gold early in the new year, the company said Thursday.

The Doris North gold deposit is the first of three planned operating sites for TMAC's Hope Bay Project, located 125 kilometres south-west of Cambridge Bay. Two other deposits, named Madrid and Boston, have been identified and are in various stations of permitting and proposals.

It's estimated that between the three deposits, there are about 3.5 million oz. of gold reserves.

• IN DEPTH | Doris North gold mine just the beginning for TMAC in Nunavut

The company has been mining gold underground at the site for nearly a year. It's now in the process of assembling a mill that was shipped from Australia, which arrived on site in late August.

"By the end of this year we'll have between 55,000 and 60,000 oz. of gold in a high grade or run of mill stockpile" said TMAC CEO Catharine Farrow.

"We have been mining the ore, but the trick now is to get the processing plant up and running and achieve steady state production of gold bars. And that's what we will ship off site. It's that final stage in getting the Doris deposit fully operational."

Farrow says most of the mill was tested and pre-assembled before it was shipped halfway around the world. The company had a two month window to get more than 200 shipping containers to the site.

"We shipped the (processing plant) building last year and constructed it this spring. The assembly of the mill is on-going inside the building." says Farrow. She says that advanced work has meant "a compressed" ramp-up, compared to other mining projects.

TMAC expects to begin sending ore through the processing plant by late December, with commercial production beginning early in the new year.