Victoria Gold studies scalping screen at Eagle mine to boost production

Victoria Gold (TSXV: VGCX) has completed a scoping study at its Eagle gold mine in the Mayo district of the Yukon. The study assessed adding an intermediate scalping screen in the crushing circuit to remove fine ore material and place it directly on the leach pad.

The results of the study demonstrated that this change would increase the design throughput of the crushing circuit by approximately 15%. Higher crushing throughput would increase the annual stacking rate on the leach pad by about 1.5 million tonnes.

The capital cost was estimated at $18 million for the new screen and necessary work. The new screen will be located just north of the fine crushing plant, between the secondary and tertiary circuits. Construction is to be completed by the end of this year.

Adding such a screen is part of Victoria Gold's Project 250 targeting improvements to the overall efficiency of the Eagle mine and material handling facilities. Project 250 got its name from the goal of increasing gold production to 250,000 oz. in 2023. The project seeks to extend the overall stacking schedule to 11 months from nine months a year.

The Eagle mine is part of Victoria’s Dublin Gulch project that includes the Eagle and Olive gold deposits. They contain proven and probable reserves of 3.3 million oz. of gold in 155 million tonnes of ore with a grade of 0.65 g/t gold for 3.2 million contained oz. The Eagle mine produced 164,222 oz. of gold in 2021.

The company is also working on what it calls Project 2040, which would extend the life of the mine by 10 years to 2040. This includes drilling at the Eagle pit to extend the resources below the current 350 metres to at least 650 metres. Drilling is underway to support a resource update that is due shortly.

Last year, Victoria Gold concentrated its exploration efforts at Dublin Gulch on the Raven gold project by drilling 60,000 metres. Development is being fast tracked with a resource estimate, preliminary economic assessment and baseline environmental and geotechnical data collection to be done this year. A feasibility study would follow in 2023, and if permitting can be accomplished by 2025, the first gold pour would occur in 2028.

More information is posted at www.VGCX.com.