A Modern Mining Adventure by Maurice Mostert, P.Eng., VP of Technical Services The Technical Services team oversees the architecture of the mine. Integrating math and science, we are focused on the “triple bottom line”: people, profit and the planet. A successful modern mine must have all three. In collaboration with the geologists, engineers and operational staff, we work on drill plans, ventilation systems, mine-to-mill integrations, optimization, sustainability and cost estimates – everything a profitable mine needs to safely tick over. I am now a proud Canadian. I grew up in the interior of South Africa, cut my teeth in the ultra-deep gold mines. Starting my shift at 4:30am, I went three vertical kilometers down the mine shaft to drill and charge holes. South Africa initiated some of the world’s best mining practices. It was a valuable training ground that has informed my approach to the West Red Lake Gold project. The gold veins in the Red Lake District create an interesting challenge, in that they are almost vertical. They undulate wildly along strike, like snaking rivers. If you try to follow them without a detailed map, the veins seem to “disappear”. When the previous operators realised the vein was missing, they’d continue for another two or three cuts with no gold, which ultimately made the operation sub-economic. With a renewed understanding of the ore-body, we now know the vein does not disappear and we can more easily pick up the elusive trail. Those undulations might not have to be mined selectively, which would result in a reduction in mining cost per-ounce-of-gold. Early indications are that Rowan is amenable to “ore-sorting”, which removes waste-rock before it gets to the mill. Ore-sorting has the potential to reduce the tonnage of rock being transported from the Rowan deposit to the Madsen mill, thereby increasing the grade and giving us more “bang for our buck”. We can boost the capacity of the existing mill up to 1,500t/day, almost a 50% increase. We are lucky to have a state-of-the-art water treatment facility with excess capacity. We’re introducing a number of technical innovations. Typically, in Canada, miners blast the rock face, extending the tunnel by up to four metres, then bringing in a scissor deck. The miners stand on top of the deck, drill more holes to install support into the back wall, directly above the miner. It's a time-consuming manual process. West Red Lake Gold is investigating modernising this process with a technique called “jumbo bolting”. You drill and bolt using mechanical arms from the safety of an air-conditioned cab. It’s faster, more robust and with this process no human being comes within three meters of the unsupported ground. We’re also running trials on an innovative explosive that allows us to charge the holes quicker while reducing the ammonia footprint of the mine. TSXV: WRLG 🇨🇦 OTCQB: WRLGF 🇺🇸
Randy J. Agius
7mo
Mill looking sharp as always.
Aero Geometrics Ltd.
7mowould you like a digital twin of this?