By paNOW Staff

New gold mine set to open by year end

Oct 8, 2010 | 6:31 AM

Andrew de Souza

paNOW Staff

After 16 years of exploration and development, Gold Band Resources is set to open its first mine in the mineral-rich area known as the La Ronge gold band.
On Thursday, at annual Mining Exploration exposition in Prince Albert, Golden Band vice-president Rodney Orr , said he’s hoping the company will be able to open the mine by the end of the year as
“a Christmas present.”
He said current record-high gold commodity prices mean the mine’s future looks bright.
“It’s not like we planned it this way but our timing is very fortunate that we’re going into production when prices are at record-high levels,” said Orr.
According to documents provided by Golden Band, the mine is set to process as much as 1,000 tonnes of material per day, once it hits peak production.
As well, the company is nearing completion or operational capacity at several other facilities, which include open-pit- and underground mines.
Once all are completed, Golden Band estimates around 45,000 ounces of gold will be recovered in the first year, with as much as 170,000 ounces recovered by 2011.
It’s a breath of fresh air for the company, who’s been focusing completely on exploration of the precious metal for more than 16 years.
“Exploration has been the only thing the company has done. We have a huge cash flow as an exploration company but it’s all negative,” said Orr. “Hopefully we’ll become cash positive and be able to reinvest in more exploration opportunities.”
Presently, Golden Band is a small company with about 20 employees. Orr said plans are to increase that number to around 100, with an expected $30-million going their salaries. In addition, he said the company expected to spend around $150-million in local services.
As well, Orr said most of the work will be done by contractors since the company simply doesn’t have the ability to hire enough workers for all the required jobs.
Orr said the mines are expected to have a life of at least 10 years.

adesouza@rawlco.com