Kirkland Lake pours millionth gold ounce at Macassa

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Ontario-focused miner Kirkland Lake Gold has poured its millionth ounce of gold at the Macassa Mine Complex, since declaring commercial production in 2003.

In addition to marking a historic milestone for the TSX-listed company, it brought the mining camp’s historical production to more than 26-million ounces of the yellow metal.

Kirkland Lake started operations at Macassa in 2002 and, with the discovery of the South Mine Complex, had been able to increase its level of production significantly over the past five years, with the company producing and selling more than 570 000 oz of gold.

The Macassa Mine Complex currently had 1.5-million ounces in proven and probable reserves (2.4-million tonnes at an average grade of 19.2 g/t gold), and a further two-million ounces in measured and indicated resources (3.8-million tonnes at an average grade of 16.8 g/t gold).

"We recently announced achieving one-million man hours without a lost-time injury and are now announcing one-million ounces of production at the complex,” said VP of operations Chris Stewart in a statement.

Kirkland Lake chairperson Eric Sprott added: “I truly believe in the prolific nature of this camp and, with the recent regional exploration success, I have no doubt that we will continue to add significant ounces to this tally in the future."

Kirkland Lake had last week completed the acquisition of St Andrew Goldfields, creating a new midtier Ontario-focused gold producer.

The combined entity now operated four mines and two mills in Ontario's southern Abitibi greenstone belt, one of the world's most attractive mining jurisdictions. The company was expected to produce between 260 000 oz and 310 000 oz of gold in 2016, with cash costs estimated to range between $600/oz and $690/oz of gold.