Renabie pours millionth ounce of gold

The mine, operated by Renabie Gold Mines which is 55%-owned by Corona Corp. (TSE) and 45% by American Barrick Resources (TSE), turned out 38, 668 oz in 1988 and is expected to produce more than 42,000 oz this year.

Officers of the company, mine employees and their children, and guests gathered at the mine site (about 50 miles northeast of Wawa) under a large canvas canopy to witness the historical pour on closed- circuit television.

The Renabie mine went into production in 1947, although gold had been first discovered in the area in 1920, and operations lasted until it closed in 1970. The next 11 years saw limited production and ownership changes. In 1981, the property was given new life and it has been producing since.

Mining at Renabie is performed by trackless sublevel caving in the area of an internal shaft extending between 3,105 ft (vertical) and 4,507 ft. Proven and probable reserves stand at more than one million tons grading 0.213 oz gold per ton. The deposit is open at depth. Excellent quarter

First-quarter production this year totalled 12,404 oz, the best quarter ever in the mine’s history. Production cost was $298(US) per oz compared to last year’s average of $360. The production rate is 700 tons ore per day.

Management is pleased with an employee incentive plan introduced last year involving payment of a bonus based on tons milled and gold produced. “The key thing here is the change in attitude of the people,” Robert McCallum, vice- president operations, told The Northern Miner. The mine has 175 employees.

The company will spend about $250,000 this summer on surface exploration work on surrounding claims, McCallum said. In another operation, 5,000 tons of surface material grading about 0.2 oz is to be drawn from the C West zone and fed through the mill during the August shutdown.

The mine underwent a $23-million expansion, rehabilitation and modernization program which was completed at the end of 1986. The financing for the work was raised by the Renabie Gold Trust, which receives a portion of the gold production varying between 3% and 10%, depending on the market price of the precious metal.

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