Canada-based Kirkland Lake Gold gave the forecast in its full year guidance issued in December, in which it announced further exploration to identify high grade ore bodies.
The company expects more modest gold production this year, while it directs efforts to identifying new ore bodies.
Company president and chief executive officer Tony Makuch said the company was planning its largest exploration program at Fosterville since acquiring the mine in 2016, including $85-95 million worth of drilling and development.
“The primary objective of the program is to identify additional high-grades zones to provide future high-grade production.
“The 2021 exploration plan will largely follow up on existing drill results that included the intersection of quartz with visible gold, found in large concentrations and at exceptional grades in the Swan Zone, in multiple other locations,’’ Mr Makuch said.
“Production at Fosterville in 2021 will be lowered from the levels achieved in 2019 and 2020.
“We have a large ore body at Fosterville, but the high-grade components of the existing mineral reserve involve a short production life. When you consider that we have identified a number of large mineralized systems, all including intersections containing quartz with visible gold, we remain optimistic that additional high-grade zones can be identified. Our challenge is to maintain a sustainable and economic operation while we continue to drill to identify the next high-grade area for future mining,” Mr Makuch said in his forecast.
“The result of our work is a production profile that includes 400,000 to 425,000 ounces in 2021, moving to a range of 325,000 to 400,000 ounces in 2022 and 2023.
“Longer term, we will work to sustain operations at that level of production for a number of years, subject to continued drilling success.
“Our budget for exploration at Fosterville in 2021 is $85 to $95 million, by far our largest commitment since we acquired the mine in November 2016.”
The company reported the mine produced 161,489 ounces in the third quarter of 2020, and production for 2020 at the end of the third quarter totalled 476,459 ounces, an 11 per cent increase from 427,472 ounces for the same time the previous year.
Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd operates in Canada and Australia and expects to produce 1,350,000 to 1,400,000 ounces of gold in 2020.
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