With almost 2 million mt of ore in its stockpiles, Goldcorp’s 400,000-oz/y Peñasquito project began formal
production with first gold poured in mid-May
Goldcorp Pours First Gold at Peñasquito
The Peñasquito property is located in Zacatecas state, with excellent proximity to roads, power, rail, skilled labor and smelters. It is composed of two main deposits, Peñasco and Chile Colorado. Development planning called for heap leach production beginning this year, and this goal has been achieved. A 65,000- mt/d milling operation is scheduled to begin production in 2009, ramping up to 130,000 mt/d in 2010. Once full commercial production is achieved, Peñasquito will produce more than 400,000 oz/y of gold and 30 million oz/y of silver, as well as substantial amounts of zinc and lead in concentrates, over a 19-year mine life.
During the first quarter of 2008, the Goldcorp board approved a plan to expand the Peñasquito mill design throughput by 30% to 130,000 mt/d of ore and to accelerate the project’s production schedule. The 400-kV power line bringing grid power to the site was completed during the quarter, and work continues on the associated substations. A total of 15 haul trucks and three loaders were pre-stripping the deposits at a rate of 100,000 mt/d. The first mine shovel was 95% assembled as of early May and was expected to be operational by the end of the month. Additional mine equipment continues to arrive on the site, and training of the operating crews is ongoing. Optimization studies continue for haulage versus conveying and for crush size versus recovery for the oxide material.
Construction of the Peñasquito primary crusher building and Merrill-Crowe plant were completed during the first quarter. The contract for the tailings pond work was let, and work on the pond was begun. The warehouse and administration buildings were completed and ready for occupancy.
The capital cost estimate for Peñasquito project completion now stands at $1.494 billion, which includes $638 million spent to date. Purchase commitments as of March 31, 2008, totaled $283 million, and the project EPCM progress stood at 44%.
Peñasquito’s proven and probable gold reserves currently total 13 million oz, silver reserves total 864 million oz, zinc reserves total 5.81 million mt and lead reserves total 2.67 million mt. Measured and indicated gold and silver resources, inclusive of proven and probable reserves, stand at 17.8 million oz and 1.3 billion oz, respectively.