McEwen Mining has raised $12.6 million in flow-through share financing to bring its Froome deposit into production near Matheson.
The Froome deposit is an extension of the Black Fox Mine, 11 kilometres east of the town on Highway 101.
An underground access ramp is being driven and should reach the deposit by the middle of this year. Commercial gold production is expected to begin by the fourth quarter. The nearby Grey Fox deposit is the next mine project in the queue to be developed.
The Black Fox mine has operated as an open pit and underground mine since production began in 1997. At the end of 2020, the mine had produced a total of 944,000 ounces of gold.
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The company is working on a preliminary economic assessment, utilizing its milling capacity, to expand the mine's production life from producing 30,000 to 40,000 ounces of gold annually to annual production of 100,000 to 150,000 ounces.
McEwen holds a series of gold properties in the Timmins-Matheson area known as the Fox Complex, comprising almost 7,000 hectares. To date, its deposits host nearly 3.0 million gold ounces of measured and indicated resources, plus an additional 1.0 million ounces of inferred resources.
The company said underground drilling at the Black Fox Mine continues to return encouraging high-grade intercepts, including one assay that returned 64.7 grams per tonne over a 2.0 metre core length.
McEwen also has three drills working on a target from the surface at its Stock Property, between Matheson and Timmins. One drill is testing a gold extension below the workings of the former Stock Mine.
The company is looking to reopen the mine and begin dewatering it in the second half of this year. The former Stock Mine produced 137,000 gold ounces at an average grade of 5.5 grams per tonne over an intermittent operating life between the early 1980s and 2004.
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