Endomines to give an update on its mining operations in Finland and the United States
Endomines is pleased to provide an update on progress and mining development activities at its Finnish and US operations.
Endomines to give an update on its mining operations in Finland and the United States
Endomines AB, Stock Exchange Release 3 February 2022 at 18:00 CET
Endomines is pleased to provide an update on progress and mining development activities at its Finnish and US operations.
Pampalo Finland
The Pampalo mine in eastern Finland was put on care and maintenance in 2018 when gold prices were at multiyear lows ($1250/oz). The ore lenses in the underground mine are open at depth and currently known lenses extend to the 855-mine level, and likely much below that. These areas and lower mining areas can be accessed by extending the existing decline thereby deepening the mine.
An underground infill drilling program carried out in the summer/fall and targeted at the planned production levels between 755 and 855-mine levels returned several very high-grade gold intercepts (release 18 November 2021).
The mine deepening project was initiated in April 2021 and the decline reached the targeted 815-mine level in October. Mine development then started ahead of schedule in November and Pampalo processing plant started-up again at yearend. A mine development and stoping contract, covering all underground works for the ore mining was concluded with mining contractor Power Mining Oy. All own company personnel required to operate the mine and processing plant has been hired and trained.
The grade of ore as well as tonnage coming from mine development is higher than what originally budgeted. The result is, more or less in line with the latest encouraging drilling program results. The the first mining stopes on the 815-mining level will come into production in February as previously announced.
To date a total of 5,600 tonnes of high-grade ore from mine development averaging over 4 g/t has been stockpiled and will be fed to the processing plant in February.
After the refurbishment of the mill was complete, the first batch of development ore was processed at the plant in December 2021. The processing plant was in general found to be in good condition and has performed very well from the beginning.
Gold concentrate deliveries to Boliden started in January and the mill has now reached over 60 % of its throughput capacity. The planned mill ramp-up period is short and full throughput is expected to be achieved during the month of March. A gold concentrate sales agreement with Boliden covering the next 2 years, was signed in January 2022.
Friday Idaho, US
Endomines re-started mining and milling activities at the Friday mine and Orogrande mill in Idaho, US in the fall of 2021, and ramp-up of the production has been ongoing since that time. Some 7,200 tonnes of ore has been mined and delivered to the mill and 5,300 tonnes has been processed. The mill is anticipated to operate near to its planned capacity in January. The milling has been hampered by challenges in recruiting mill personnel as well as sick leaves due to numerous Covid 19 cases.
In mining the first stopes it has become evident that the gold mineralization is more irregular than had been previously interpreted resulting in sometimes large variances in ore tonnes and grades. As a result of this, more close spaced infill underground drilling is required to define ore stope boundaries for mine planning purposes. An initial underground drilling program to further define stopes has also confirmed this view. Accordingly, ore mining and underground development will now be temporarily halted at the mine while the company focuses exclusively on underground core drilling to outline the quality and quantity of ore. This will allow the company to design ore mining in a more cost-effective way, focus on operating cost reductions and make sure all mining activities are well aligned.
The underground drilling program is planned to be carried out in the next 2-3 months and be targeted at defining ore boundaries. The drilling program will also test deeper areas where there are previous indications of high-grade gold mineralization. Depending on results the drilling may be extended. After completion of the underground drilling program, the ore models and ore resources will be updated and, if results are line with current expectation, mine ramp-up will continue. Due to a very small ore stockpile at the mill and the upcoming seasonal road closures preventing ore haulage from mine to process plant, ore processing will also be temporarily halted.
US development projects
Endomines holds several prospective historical mines within its USA portfolio. Based on the stage of their development, they can be placed into two strategic categories, medium and long-term development projects. The medium-term strategic mining projects are the Montana assets which consist of the US Grant and Kearsarge properties. These assets are key cornerstones in Endomines’ strive to become a mid-tier gold mining company.
The US Grant mine is a high-grade, underground gold and silver project with a historical resource totaling 165,700 ounces gold and 4.47M ounces silver contained in 346,000 metric tonnes of mineralized material. An old process plant designed to mill 150 tons per day using gravity separation and froth flotation to produce gold concentrates is located on the property. Although production records are not well documented, historic mining grades range between 6.9 - 8.6 g/t (0.2 – 0.25 oz/t) gold and 171.4 – 342.8 g/t (5 – 10 oz/t) silver. The Kearsarge property is located approximately 8 km from the US Grant mill. This asset is also a high-grade, underground gold project with a historical resource totaling 380,700 ounces of gold contained in 4.1 million metric tonnes of mineralized material.
The Company is planning to undertake environmental, exploration, metallurgical and project development activities starting in H2 2022. This will begin with the preparation of an updated estimate of mineral resources followed by a scoping study addressing the economic potential of the project.
Contact person
Seppo Tuovinen, interim CEO, seppo.tuovinen@endomines.com, +358 50 576 0143
Vern Langdale, director of operations, vern.langdale@endomines.com, +358 44 422 9657
This information is information that Endomines AB is obliged to make public pursuant to the Financial Instruments Trading Act. The information was submitted for publication on 3 February 2022 18:00 CET.
About Endomines
Endomines is a mining and exploration company with its primary focus on gold. The Company explores for gold along the Karelian Gold Line in Eastern Finland and develops mining operations in Idaho, USA and Finland. Endomines aims to improve its long-term growth prospects by increasing its exploration activities and through acquisitions. Endomines aims to acquire deposits that are situated in stable jurisdictions and can be brought to production rapidly with limited investments.
The shares trade on Nasdaq Stockholm (ENDO) and Nasdaq Helsinki (ENDOM).