Artemis Gold has fed the first ore through the commissioned crushing circuit at the company’s fully owned Blackwater gold project in central British Columbia, Canada.
The gold development company said that it is in the final stages of construction and commissioning of the Canadian gold mine. The full operational handover of the crushing circuit to the operations team is expected in the coming weeks, said Artemis Gold.
Mining activities in the open pit commenced this quarter, with initial open blast operations underway as scheduled.
Contractors for blasting and explosives have been established on-site at the Blackwater project.
The 225kV renewable grid power line and substation have been commissioned, which is now providing power to the Blackwater site, said Artemis Gold.
In addition, the 25kV site-wide power reticulation is nearing completion. Artemis Gold plans to decommission and demobilise diesel power generation units across the site by the end of this year.
The tailings storage facility (TSF) construction has been completed and ready to support production activities as planned.
Besides, the company expects to feed first ore to the ball mill within the coming weeks.
The first gold pour from the Blackwater project remains on track to be achieved before the end of the year. Artemis Gold stated that the project remains fully funded.
Located about 160km southwest of Prince George and approximately 446km northeast of Vancouver, the Blackwater gold project is expected to require an initial development capital of C$645m ($461.3m) for its phase 1 based on its 2021 feasibility study (FS).
The subsequent Phase 2 and Phase 3 expansions are estimated to require additional capital investments of C$347m ($248.2m) each.
The study also outlines a throughput of six million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) during the initial four years of operation, with an expected average annual gold production of 321,000 ounces.
Phase 2 is planned to commence in the fifth year, increasing throughput to 9Mtpa and further ramping up to 12Mtpa by the sixth year. Phase 3 is expected to begin in the tenth year, with throughput expanding to 15Mtpa.
The Blackwater gold project’s after-tax net present value (NPV) is C$2.15bn ($1.54bn) with a post-tax internal rate of return (IRR) of 32%. The after-tax payback period for the Canadian project on initial capital cost is 2.3 years.
