Name of the Project
Duparquet gold project.

Location
Abitibi region of Quebec, Canada.

Project Owner/s
First Mining Gold.

Project Description
A preliminary economic assessment (PEA) released in September 2023 supports a 15 000 t/d openpit and underground mining operation over an 11-year mine life. The PEA considers only the Duparquet gold deposit on the Beattie, Donchester, Central Duparquet and Dumico claim blocks, and does not include the Pitt Gold and Duquesne deposits.

The project comprises seven pits, with Pit 1 having three phases.

Diesel equipment, including drilling rigs and haul trucks, coupled with hydraulic shovels, will be used to conduct openpit mining.For the underground mine, longhole stoping, transverse and longitudinal with cemented rockfill, will be the preferred mining method.

Life-of-mine (LoM) recovered gold production is estimated at 233 000 oz/y. Total recovered gold over the LoM is estimated at 2.5-million ounces.

The process plant has been designed using conventional processing unit operations.

It will nominally treat 15 000 t/d or 679 dry tonnes/hour, based on 92% availability.

The flowsheet will comprise primary crushing, semiautogenous grinding and ball mill grinding, rougher and cleaner gold flotation circuits, concentrate dewatering and loadout facilities. Flotation tailings will be dewatered in a thickener to produce a tailings slurry for storage on site. The process plant will include reagents, air systems and utilities to support the operation.

The primary crushing plant design is based on 75% availability.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has a net present value, at a 5% discount rate, of C$1.07-billion at $1 800/oz gold, and an internal rate of return of 24.9%, with a payback of 3.8 years.

Capital Expenditure
Initial mining capital is estimated at C$102-million, inclusive of capitalised stripping, and equipment. The capital expenditure for the underground operation, which starts in Year 1 of openpit operations, is $404-million, of which C$255-million is attributed to mine development.

Planned Start/End Date
Not stated.

Latest Developments
None stated.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
G Mining Services Inc (operating cost estimation, economic analysis and mine engineering; openpit mine engineering; mineral processing and recovery methods; and infrastructure and capital cost estimation); InnovExplo Inc (Duparquet, Duquesne and Pitt gold mineral resource estimate); and Stantec Consulting (environmental and permitting).

Contact Details for Project Information
First Mining Gold, email info@firstmininggold.com.