Ascot Resources Ltd. March 26 reported that it remains on track for the first gold pour at Premier in April and will reach commercial production at the new iteration of this historic gold-silver mine sometime after midyear.
Lying about 15 kilometers (nine miles) north of Stewart, B.C., Ascot’s Premier project is home to a past-producing gold mine that last operated in the 1990s.
Infrastructure from the previous mine provided Ascot with a framework to build its new gold operation on the historic property.
A feasibility study completed in 2020 detailed plans to develop four underground mines – Big Missouri, Premier, Silver Coin, and Red Mountain – that will feed ore to the upgraded mill at Premier. At 2,500 metric tons per day, this operation is expected to produce roughly 1.1 million ounces of gold and 3 million oz of silver over the first eight years of mining.
This new era of Premier mining is based on 3.63 million metric tons of probable reserves averaging 5.45 grams per metric ton (637,000 oz) gold and 19.1 g/t (2.23 million oz) silver within the Silver Coin, Big Missouri, and Premier deposits; plus 2.55 million metric tons of proven and probable reserves averaging 6.52 g/t (534,000 oz) gold and 20.6 g/t (1.69 million oz) silver at Red Mountain, which is on a separate property about 20 kilometers (12 miles) to the southeast.
As of the end of February, the development of the mine outlined in the feasibility study was 94% complete, and Ascot anticipates introducing the first ore into the mill over the next couple of days.
The initial ore processed at Premier is being delivered from Big Missouri, a deposit about 3.7 miles (six kilometers) north of the Premier mill that hosts 809,000 metric tons of the overall probable reserves averaging 7.15 g/t (186,000 oz) gold and 12.2 g/t (317,000 oz) silver.
As of March 21, approximately 2,091 meters of underground development have been completed at Big Missouri, and ore from this deposit has been stockpiled at the mill in preparation for commissioning and operations.
In late 2023, underground decline development began on the new Premier Portal close to the mill. Mining development is being advanced down into the Premier deposit for initial mining in the Prew Zone, with ore development anticipated to begin during the second quarter and stoping to begin after midyear. As of March 15, roughly 32 meters of underground development had been completed at Premier.
With a C$96.6 million financing package that closed on Feb. 20, Ascot believes that it has sufficient funding to complete construction and ramp up commercial production at Premier over the coming months.
In the meantime, the company should begin seeing the first ounces of gold supplementing its treasury beginning in April.
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