Victoria Gold (VGCX) - Award Winning 250,000oz Producer

Victoria Gold Corp is a Canadian-listed gold production company, focused on its gold producing asset, the Eagle Gold mine, located in the company’s Dublin Gulch property in the Central Yukon. The Eagle Gold mine is an open-pit, heap-leach operation that lies approximately 375 km north of the city of Whitehorse.

Matthew Gordon spoke to John McConnell, President & CEO of Victoria Gold Corp. to discuss the company's recent activities and its plans moving forward. 

Company Overview

Victoria Gold is proud that even through the COVID-19 pandemic it was able to successfully develop the largest gold mine in the history of the Yukon. The mineral resource of the Eagle Gold mine is open at depth as well as along strike, with it currently hosting 3.3 million ounces of gold.

Victoria Gold Corp has announced, “Project 250” which is aimed at producing 250,000 ounces of gold per annum by 2023. The project consists of operational and process changes, the first being the extension of its overall stacking schedule from nine to eleven months a year. The second component of project 250 is the addition of a screening plant between the secondary and tertiary screening and crushing facilities. The screening plant will assist in trapping fine particle matter created through blasting, and removing it from the crushing system, increasing the throughput of the processing facility by 15%.

The Dublin Gulch property hosts various other satellite deposits with mineralization potential. Victoria Gold Corp aims to grow its operations and is optimistic regarding the exploration potential of its Dublin Gulch property. The company believes that the property holds district-scale potential and plans to show this through the exploration of various targets. 

The Eagle gold mine of the company boasts as being the best-in-class heap leaching operation globally, with a higher-grade product and lower strip ratio than any other oxide heap leach project currently in production.

The progress, activity and success of this Yukon gold champion is accredited to its award-winning and experienced management team.  

Management

Victoria Gold Corp boasts a management team that has vast experience in all phases of the mining process, specifically in the Canadian arctic. Leading the team is John McConnell, who serves as president, director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO). McConnell has more than 35 years of mining experience, predominantly in the northern territories of Canada. McConnell has in the past served as the Vice President of northwest territories projects for De Beers Canada as well as serving 12 years with Breakwater Resources Ltd / Nanisivik Mines Ltd, and six years with Strathcona Mineral Services Ltd. where he conducted engineering, feasibility studies and project development. McConnell served as the president and CEO of Western Keltic Mines, until its acquisition by Sherwood Copper in 2017. McConnell holds a B.Sc. in Mining Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines and is a strong advocate for the mining industry.

Marty Rendall is the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Victoria Gold Corp and has been since 2007. Rendall has been involved in all areas of a mine’s life from early-stage exploration through studies and permitting into construction, operations, and closure. Rendall has experience throughout the gold, diamonds and base metals industries and has been a part of various companies including De Beers Canada and Breakwater Resources.

Mark Ayranto serves as Chief Operating Officer (COO) and has more than 20 years of experience in the development of projects in the Yukon. Ayranto’s experience in the Yukon has been primarily focused on project development including First Nations, engineering studies, and permitting

Paul D. Gray serves as the Vice President of Technical Services and holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree from Dalhousie University. Gray has over 10 years of experience in northern Canada exploration projects from the permitting phase through to project execution. Gray has over 21 years of experience in precious metals, base metals and uranium exploration and development throughout Canada, the USA, Asia and Central and South America.

Dave Rouleau is the Vice President of operations and has more than 30 years of operational and management experience in the mining industry. Rouleau has held positions such as Vice President of operations with Barkerville gold mines as well as being a key member of the Canadian Natural Resources Senior Management team accredited with developing the Horizon Oil Sands Project in Fort McMurray.

Hugh Coyle serves as VP of environment and has 15 years of mining industry related experience in the Yukon, USA and Guyana. Coyle has been instrumental in the acquisition of all exploration and mining licences as well as permits for the Eagle Gold Mine and regional projects.

Rounding out the management team is Jim Dainard as VP of finance, Helena Kuikka as VP of exploration and Kelly Parker as VP and General Manager of the Eagle gold mine.

The esteemed management team of Victoria Gold Corp has also been awarded the AME 2021 E.A. Scholz Award for excellence in mine development. The AME 2021 E.A. Scholz Award is awarded to leaders that have made a significant contribution to the mineral exploration and development industry. The Eagle gold mine serves as a testament to the competence and dedication of this management team.

Eagle Gold Mine

The Eagle gold mine is an open-pit operation with a three-stage crushing plant as well as in-valley heap leach and carbon-in-leach adsorption-desorption gold recovery plant located in the company’s Dublin Gulch property in the Mayo Mining District of the Central Yukon Territory, Canada. The Eagle gold mine boasts as being the newest and largest gold mine in the Yukon, with a NI 43-101 technical report published by the company in 2019 showing a total of 3 million ounces of proven and probable contained gold.

The Eagle gold mine produced 164,222 ounces of gold in 2021, an approximately 40% increase in production from the previous year’s 116,644 ounces of gold. The Eagle gold mine has the highest product grade and lowest strip ratio of any oxide heap leach project currently in production.

The company is currently targeting an increase in its gold production in both 2022 and 2023 to reach a production rate of 250,000 ounces of gold per annum at the end of 2023. The target of producing 250,000 ounces per annum has led to the initiation of the company’s aptly named “Project 250”.

Project 250

Project 250 consists of two improvement initiatives by the company, firstly the installation of a scalping plant that will remove fine ore material from the crushing circuit and secondly the adjustment of the company’s seasonal stacking plan.

The initiative of fine ore scalping became necessary after the company started to experience a higher amount of fine ore material in its run of mine (ROM) particle distribution. The fine ore is the result of drilling and blasting operations in the open pit which generates more fine material than anticipated in the operation’s design. The company’s solution to mitigate the effect of the fine ore material in its processing facility is the installation of a scalping plant (screening plant) between its secondary and tertiary screening and crushing plants in the processing facility. The installation of the scalping plant will see the processing facility’s throughput increase with 15% to 20%, resulting in a potential increase of the annual ore stacked on the heap leach pad by approximately 1.5 million tonnes.

Victoria Gold Corp has completed a scoping study of the scalping plant and is currently underway with detailed engineering work and the procurement of the equipment. The company aims to start the construction of the scalping plant by the end of June or the beginning of July, with the scalping plant’s commissioning scheduled for between August and September.

The company has also adjusted its overall stacking schedule to enable stacking 11 months of the year, with the twelfth month of the year dedicated to annual maintenance. The rationale behind adjusting the stacking schedule is accredited to various other mines in the surroundings being able to stack year-round and not experience any drop in leaching solution temperature and leaching rate. John McConnell, president, director and CEO states:

“Our neighbours to the west Kinross at Fort Knox mine, they started the same way, they now stack year around. So we're going to move to year-round stacking or at least only shutting down for five weeks a year and that has begun now.”

The company is focused on achieving 250,000 ounces of production by 2023 and proudly proclaims that it is “full steam ahead on Project 250”

Apart from project 250, Victoria Gold Corp has also launched its project 2040, which is the initiative to increase the life of mine (LOM) of the Eagle Gold mine to 2040. Victoria Gold Corp plans to accomplish this with the regional exploration of its Dublin Gulch property.

Exploration

Victoria Gold Corp believes that its Dublin Gulch property has district-scale potential and plans to prove this through the regional exploration of the property. The company has identified various deposits on the property, with its Raven target being one of the most significant discoveries.

The Raven target is a satellite deposit on the Dublin Gulch property of the company, which was first discovered in 2018 through trenching works. The trenching found mineralisation highlights such as 3.51 g/t of gold over 124 m and 4.15 g/t of gold over 40 m. The company continued with the exploration of the Raven target throughout 2020 and 2021. The preliminary assay results of the 2021 exploration program have warranted the launch of a large scale, 60,000 m exploration and expansion drilling campaign.

This large scale drilling campaign aims to develop the Raven target to a NI 43-101 resource in 2022 and further down the line a second gold mine on the Dublin Gulch property.

Victoria Gold Corp plans to rapidly develop the Raven target with it aiming to conduct the 60,000 m exploration drilling campaign as well as advancing the target to a Ni 43-101 resource in 2022. The company also aims to create and publish a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) as well as enter into environmental assessment and pre-screening processes in 2022 still.

Victoria Gold Corp further plans to complete and publish the Raven targets’ feasibility study in 2023 and complete its permitting by 2025. The company aims for the construction at the Raven target to occur between 2026 and 2027, enabling the production of the targets’ first gold in 2028. The company will also continue with exploration and in-fill drilling at the periphery of its existing open-pit walls and along strike to enable a resource update in 2022.

With its award-winning management team and ambitious goals for the future, Victoria Gold Corp is poised to remain the gold Champion of the Yukon.

To find out more, go to the Victoria Gold website