Canadian miner Timmins Gold launches unique underground pilot phase at mine

In preparation for full scale mining, Timmins Gold has commenced drifting into the underground veins parallel to the south wall of its San Francisco gold mine—a unique pilot phase designed to test the mining and processing of the underground ore.

In a press release, the Canadian junior miner said: “… previous drilling had delineated three mineralized veins near the south wall of the San Francisco pit, which averaged approximately 4 meters in width, with grades ranging between 2.5 and 5.0 g/t gold. These veins are located within 50 to 100 meters of the current south pit wall, dipping to the N-NE varying between 30 - 60 degrees. Veins extending along 300 meters of strike and 200 meters of dip have been delineated to date.”

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The pilot phase, which will involve drifting into the south wall to access the veins in order to extract 14,000 tons of ore, will allow Timmins to test ground conditions, mining costs, grade and metallurgical recover of the underground ore. In addition, it will provide the company efficient platforms to further underground infill and exploration drilling.

To process ore recovered from the pilot phase, Timmins Will use selective fine crushing and heap leaching. The pilot phase is expected to take three to four months to complete.

Situated in the north central portion of Sonora, Mexico, the San Francisco mine is an open pit heap leach operation with a mineral reserve of 1.6 million ounces of gold.

Based in Vancouver, Timmins Gold is a Mexican-focused intermediate gold company with a portfolio of high-quality production and development assets all based in Mexico.

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