Mining Explorers 2017: Victoria Gold Corp.
Victoria Gold Corp. has its sights set on developing its Eagle Gold deposit at its Dublin Gulch property into the Yukon’s next major gold mine. As development crews begin shaping the coming mine, the exploration team is finding new deposits of gold across the 555-square-kilometer (214 square miles) property. The open-pit, heap-leach operation at Eagle Gold is expected to produce 190,000 ounces of gold annually over a 10-year mine life from 116 million metric tons of reserves averaging 0.67 grams per metric ton (2.66 million oz) gold outlined prior to a 2016 updated feasibility study for the project. These reserves would be mined from Eagle Gold, the original deposit, and Olive, the primary target of exploration over the previous two years. In April, Victoria began a roughly C$12.5 million exploration program at Dublin Gulch focused primarily on expanding the resources near the first deposits to be mined – Eagle Gold and Olive. Drilling began at Eagle West, a new target immediately adjacent to the Eagle Gold. Highlights drilling here include 21.3 meters of 2.11 g/t gold; 31.5 meters of 0.99 g/t gold; and 35.3 meters of 1.03 g/t gold. The company said these results show the potential to add gold to the Eagle Gold mine project. Drilling at Popeye, an exploration target between Eagle and Olive, cut 4.3 meters averaging 46.63 g/t gold. Nice gold intercepts were also cut at Spinach, a new zone north of Olive. Highlights from the first holes at Spinach include 14.3 meters of 1.04 g/t gold; 6.1 meters of 2.38 g/t gold; and 5 meters of 4.26 g/t gold.
In July, Victoria secured a US$220 million debt financing that will go toward development Eagle Gold Mine. In August, the company broke ground on the first phase of development of this open-pit, heap-leach operation. This C$40 million program primarily focused on road upgrades, camp expansion and detailed engineering in preparation for more extensive development next year. “The phase-1 construction program will set us up for an efficient, low-risk construction program in 2018,” said McConnell. Victoria is targeting the first gold pour from Eagle in 2019.
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