Issue link: http://resourceworld.uberflip.com/i/1125235
J U N E / J U L Y 2 0 1 9 www.resourceworld.com 7 ELDORADO GOLD exploration potential in terms of ability to increase reserves and extend mine life," Burns said. Located on the outskirts of Val d'Or (Valley of Gold) at the eastern end of the southern Abitibi Greenstone Belt, the Lamaque property is home to the Sigma mill and former Sigma and Lamaque gold mines which operated for over 50 years, starting in the 1930s, and produced almost 10 million ounces of gold. It is also home to the Triangle deposit, a greenfield dis - covery by Integra Gold Corp., which is located about 2.5 km south of the historic Sigma and Lamaque mines. The Triangle deposit is the focus of the Lamaque mine plan. Eldorado was able to acquire a foothold in Lamaque via an initial investment for 15% of Integra Gold Corp. back in 2015. This provided the company with an entry point into the competitive Canadian mar - ket. Fast forward two years and Eldorado completed a US$357 million (including shares already held) friendly acquisition of Integra Gold Corp in July 2017. Eldorado refurbished the Sigma mill and installed a state-of-the-art operating system to maximize recoveries. In the first quarter of 2019, Lamaque produced 19,678 ounces of pre-commercial gold produc - tion and is expected to meet production guidance of 100,000 to 110,000 ounces (including pre-commercial gold produc- tion) in 2019. Production there is expected to increase to 125,000 to 135,000 ounces of gold in 2020 and 2021. "The beauty of our asset is we have a mill that has throughput beyond our cur- rent business plan," Burns said. "With a modest investment of acquiring a SAG mill (it was sold by a predecessor company) we have the ability to ramp up the through- put and production capacity of the mill from its current configuration of about 2,200 tonnes per day to 5,000 tonnes per day," he said. "So you can see from the mill capacity and the exploration potential that this could become an excellent asset for our company." Eldorado started mining at the Triangle deposit at around 1,500 tonnes per day and will eventually ramp that up to some - thing in the order of 1,800 tonnes per day. LEFT: George Burns, President and CEO of Eldorado Gold Corp. FAR LEFT: The Lamaque gold mine in the Val d'Or Mining Camp, northern Québec. BOTTOM: Ribbon cutting at the underground site for Triangle deposit at the Lamaque gold mine. Photos courtesy Eldorado Gold Corp.