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GOLD Lake Shore Builds its Reserves In an area of northern Ontario with a century of gold production, Lake Shore Gold is working hard to turn new-found resources into bullion in the bank By Simon Walker, European Editor Lake Shore Gold's Bell Creek mine and mill complex. The ramp access is central on the far left. Expansion of the mill to 3,000 mt/d is currently nearing completion. (Photo courtesy of Lake Shore Gold) Forty minutes flying time northeast of Sudbury, and 80 minutes from Toronto, the Timmins-Porcupine district is one of Canada's most important gold camps. Of the many mines that have come and gone there, three stand out: Hollinger with a cumulative output of 19.3 million oz between 1910 and 1968; MacIntyre Mines (10.7 million oz from 1912 to 1988); and Dome (at least 16 million oz since 1910, and still working). In all, the camp has produced some 70 million oz since its discovery. Together with Hoyle Pond and Pamour, Dome is today part of Goldcorp's Porcupine operations. Over time, old camps attract attention from new generations of explorers, with Timmins being no exception. Since 2002, Toronto-based Lake Shore Gold has been focusing on an increasing portfolio of properties there, with its Timmins West mine commissioned in 2011. Work is currently under way to expand mineable reserves 28 E&MJ; • FEBRUARY 2013 there, and to convert large resource bases into initial reserves at the company's Bell Creek and Fenn-Gib projects. It also owns several other exploration targets in the district. In October 2012, E&MJ; visited Lake Shore's Bell Creek mine and mill as part of a tour sponsored by the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation. Lake Shore's 10-year Focus Mark Utting, Lake Shore Gold's vice president for investor relations, provided E&MJ; with some background to the company and the stages in which it has developed its resource base. "Lake Shore was formed in 2002 with the aim of focusing on precious and base metals in northern Ontario and northern Québec," he said. "We gained access to a number of gold prospects— including what is now Timmins West— through an option agreement with Holmer Gold Mines in 2003. We were able to fulfill our commitment by upgrading and increas- ing the resource there, and by December of the following year, we had completed a business combination with Holmer to get full ownership of Timmins West. "We continued defining the resource at Timmins West, and by the end of 2007, we had got an NI 43-101-compliant indicated resource of over 3 million mt grading 8.6 g/mt, for more than 900,000 oz," Utting said. To put this into perspective, that was 175,000 oz more than Lake Shore had estimated in 2004, and the figure at that time was four times what Holmer had defined in 2002. With Timmins West clearly the principal focus for the company, it is perhaps worthwhile pointing out that the property was by no means a new discovery. In fact, gold had been found there as early as 1911, with the claims having passed through a number of different hands before ending up with Holmer Gold in 1964. Several companies, including Noranda and Chevron, had www.e-mj.com