The International Resource Journal: Red Lake Gold Mines Red Lake Gold Mines ================================================================================ admin on 06 October, 2009 01:10:00 Canada’s Red Lake Gold Mines is the flagship operation of Goldcorp Inc., located in one of the most prolific gold camps in the country. Between its dual complexes - the Red Lake mine and the Campbell mine - the site produced 629,000 ounces in 2008. However as Mike Lalonde, General Manager of the mine explains, it is set to accomplish much more in the coming year. Lalonde has worked throughout Canada, Central America and the United States in both open pit and underground mining operations. “I’ve managed underground operations as low as .07 ounces a tonne, which is about two grams, up to Red Lake and this mine is running at about 1.3 ounces a tonne right now so it’s been quite a variety from low-grade bulk mines to very high-grade, narrow vein mines. I’ve been with Goldcorp over three years now, starting out at the Marlin mine in Central America,” he says. “Goldcorp’s philosophy is built upon a foundation of six principles which we refer to as our ‘Six Pillars’ and those are; People, Safety, Production, Margins, Reserves and Partnerships. Everyone in the industry says that people are our most valuable asset and we certainly believe that to be true. We spend an exceptional amount of time in training our employees, and we are investing more than the industry average in time and money for training.” Lalonde explains the story behind the strong safety conscious focus adopted by Goldcorp. “Less than two years ago there was an industry wide safety conference held in Salt Lake City. All of Goldcorp’s senior managers were present. There was a question which came up during the conference that was put to the group. The group was asked ‘would you let a family member work on the most dangerous job in your mine?’ ” he recalls. “The answer from probably about 85 to 90 per cent of the people at the conference was, “no, we wouldn’t.” It was at that point that Goldcorp decided to make it our goal to make our operations safe enough for family members and we adopted that as a motto (“Safe Enough for Our Families”). That’s what we strive to do with our safety program.” Goldcorp’s Goals for Growth “On the production side the Red lake mine and Campbell mine are collectively producing 600,000 to 700,000 ounces a year,” Lalonde says. “We’ve integrated the mines, so that the old border between the mines is pretty hazy. We have Campbell people working in the low-grade zones in the upper Red Lake at the present time and we’re interconnecting the workings on the lower levels. We still call it Campbell and Red Lake but I think a few years down the road if not sooner it will probably be ”the A Block,” and “the B Block” or something like that.” Lalonde explains that the Red Lake mine is a vital component in Goldcorp’s wider growth plan today. “Our CEO Chuck Jeannes (Charles A, Jeannes, Goldcorp CEO and President) has stated that our production is set to increase by 50 per cent over the next five years. Certainly the Bruce Channel deposit (the Cochenour project) is going to be a large part of that,” he says. “The longer term goal is to increase production in the camp. We’re presently producing between 600,000 and 700,000 ounces. The plan is to grow Red Lake production in sync with the rest of the company.” Reserves Due to lack of a deep drilling platform, reserves in the High Grade Zone at the Red Lake Complex have not grown significantly for several years. “At the end of the second quarter this year we developed an exploration drift at the bottom of the mine to provide a good drill platform. For the first time in many years we are extensively drilling the high-grade zone well below the 47 level which is 7,000 feet below surface. We’re expecting to build up high-grade zone reserves over the next several years,” Lalonde says. “We’re drilling the Bruce Channel deposit from surface while we wait to gain access underground at the Cochenour project to drill the Gap zone, and we’re putting a big effort into reserves. We purchased the Bruce Channel Deposit last year. The deposit appears to be joined up with our Cochenour mine, a former-producing mine in the Red Lake camp. We’re presently dewatering the Cochenour shaft so that we can get down and drill an unknown zone which we call the Gap zone which lies between the Bruce Channel and the Cochenour mine. We’re hoping to be dewatered early in the new year and into that program to identify the Gap zone,” Lalonde explains. “At the Bruce Channel we’re looking at about five million ounces so we want to get that deposit developed for production as soon as possible. We’re doing a study with a number of shaft options, one of which is to enlarge and reactivate the Cochenour Shaft with a new hoisting plant, in combination with a haulage drift from the Campbell mine. Engineering studies will determine which option is the best. We will probably make a decision in the next month or so.” The Bruce Channel deposit is only five Kilometres away from the existing Campbell and the Red Lake mines. “The grade is a bit higher than the average Campbell grade and of course, lower than the Red Lake Complex grade,” Lalonde says. “We’re also looking at the possibility of an open pit in Balmertown, near the Campbell complex. We’re currently evaluating data collected from an extensive drilling program last year.” As Lalonde tells this exciting story of Goldcorp’s Red Lake mine, you can’t help but feel that it has really only just begun. As he charts their successful steps towards their increased production goal, Lalonde stresses that Goldcorp teamwork is the real power behind the progress. “We have a very strong technical team and they’re really hard at work finding for the future of the Red Lake camp. We have a dedicated group of employees and they’re doing their part to make it happen, getting costs under control, increasing productivity, speeding up the development rate of the mine; it’s a team effort,” he says. Now as the Goldcorp team works towards achieving these targets, it is clear that the company and Red Lake Gold Mines are growing at what appears to be a very exciting mine for the worldwide gold industry.