Name of the Project
Blackwater gold project.

Location
Central British Columbia, Canada.

Project Owner/s
Artemis Gold.

Project Description
A feasibility study has shown several positive changes in the approach to the planned development of the Blackwater project, compared with the prefeasibility study (PFS) completed in 2020. 

Phase 1 throughput has been expanded by 9%, from 5.5-million tonnes a year in the PFS to six-million tonnes a year in the feasibility study, with a larger crushing circuit providing greater operational throughput upside potential in the early years.

The accelerated Phase 2 involves an expansion to 12-million tonnes a year, ramping up to nine-million tonnes a year in Year 5, with full Phase 2 throughput expansion achieved in Year 6.

The increased production in years 1 to 5 supports a 29 % increase in average gold production over the first five years of operation to 321 000 oz/y.

The Phase 2 expansion has been simplified and is to be achieved with only minor modifications to the existing Phase 1 crushing, stockpile and ball mill feed system. The second ball mill will operate in series with the Phase 1 mill. The rest of the plant circuits will be duplicated (gravity concentration, leaching, adsorption, elution and cyanide destruction) or expanded. Minor upgrades will be undertaken on some infrastructure to accommodate the increased throughput.

Phase 3 involves expansion to 20-million tonnes a year, ramping up to 15-million tonnes a year in Year 10, with full Phase 3 expansion achieved in Year 11.

The increased production in years 1 to 10 results in a 5% increase in the average gold production, to 351 000 oz/y of gold.

The Phase 3 expansion will require a new process line, from primary crushing to cyanide destruction, although a carbon elution circuit will not be needed, as the Phase 1 and 2 units will have sufficient capacity, with the lower ore-grades in Phase 3.  
 
Mining operations are proposed to cease in Year 17, with stockpiled ore rehandled and processed through the process plant in years 18 to 22. The decrease in mine life, from 23 years in the 2020 PFS to 22 years in the feasibility study, is a direct result of the increased throughput rate and production during the first ten years of the mine life in the feasibility study.  

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
In the base case, the project has an after-tax net present value, at a 5% discount rate, of C$2.15-billion and an internal rate of return of 32.1%, with a payback of 2.3 years. This compares with an after-tax net present value, at a 5% discount rate, of C$2.25-billion and an internal rate of return of 35%, with a payback of 2.2 years in the PFS.

Capital Expenditure
Between C$730-million and C$750-million.

Planned Start/End Date
Construction is expected to start in the second quarter of 2022, putting the project  on track to develop into a new tier-one gold operation in the first quarter of 2024.

Latest Developments
Artemis Gold has committed to additional investments as part of its Phase 1 development of the Blackwater mine to facilitate the potential fast-tracking of the Phase 2 expansion.

To support the additional investments, the company has amended the gold stream agreement with Wheaton Precious Metals to provide an additional $40-million in funding.

The additional investments during Phase 1 include additional structural steel and increased conveyor belt widths in the crushing circuits, as well as the introduction of variable-speed drives to the ball mill. Electrical components have also been upgraded to facilitate the Phase 2 requirements and to include optionality regarding the use of redundancy backup power sources.

Other optimisations include upsizing the oxygen plant, coupled with down-shaft-sparging of oxygen to the preleach and carbon-in-leach (CIL) trains, the optimisation of the CIL layout to facilitate nonintrusive expansion of Phase 2, and the full conversion of the detoxification process to remove the need for tanker-supplied liquid sulphur dioxide.

These investments in the Phase 1 initial capital are expected to enable Artemis to further optimise throughput in the early years of operation. 

The amendment to the gold stream agreement has been achieved through a simple increase in the number of ounces to be delivered to Wheaton prior to the reduction in Wheaton’s stream participation from 8% to 4%. This mechanism is akin to a prepay, and grants no additional stream percentage participation in Blackwater by Wheaton.

With the commitment of the additional $40-million funding under the gold stream, the optimised initial capital for Phase 1 construction of Blackwater is fully funded. In addition to receiving its initial $35.2-million deposit under the silver stream on June 9, the company has also received its initial $10-million deposit under the amendment to the gold stream.

The company’s cash balance at the end of May 2023 totalled C$47-million.

The project was 20% complete as of May 31, 2023.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
Ausenco Engineering Canada, with the support of Knight Piésold, Moose Mountain Technical, Allnorth Consultants, Lorax Environmental Services, ERM Consultants and JAT MetConsult (feasibility study).

Contact Details for Project Information
Artemis Gold, tel +1 604 558 1107 or email info@artemisgoldinc.com.