Pretium Pours First Gold at Brucejack


Brucejack’s first gold dore bar (inset) was poured on June 30.
Pretium Resources announced on June 30 it has poured the first gold at its Brucejack mine in northwest British Columbia and followed up with an announcement on July 7 that the mine has reached commercial production. The gold pour announcement included a report that Brucejack’s flotation and gravity circuits are operational and that gold-silver flotation concentrate is being produced and bagged, with initial shipments scheduled to depart in the near term.

The commercial production date was defined as the first day of the calendar month immediately following the first calendar month during which the Brucejack plant processed ore at an average rate of 60% of monthly nameplate capacity. Annual processing capacity is 985,500 metric tons per year (mt/y) or 2,700 mt per day (mt/d).

During June, the Brucejack plant processed 70,805 mt (87.4% of monthly nameplate capacity) for an average of 2,360 mt/d. Higher-grade ore was being introduced into the plant as work continued on optimizing recoveries in the gravity and flotation circuits.

The Brucejack mine is located approximately 950 kilometers (km) northwest of Vancouver and 65 km north of Stewart, British Columbia. The 330-person Brucejack camp, which includes the mine dry, offices, recreation facilities, dining hall, and kitchen, was fully commissioned and operational in early February.

Brucejack is scheduled to produce an average of 504,000 ounces per year (oz/y) of gold over its first eight years of operation and a mine-life average of 404,000 oz/y over 18 years.

As featured in Womp 2017 Vol 08 - www.womp-int.com