Exploration is driving McEwen Mining’s gains in expanding the gold resources at its Fox Complex, east of Timmins.
Last week, the Toronto gold company reported a 31 per cent increase in gold resources to its Stock West and Stock Main properties with good gold potential running deeper down.
These properties are some of the company’s biggest assets and are scheduled to be the next sources of production, coming online in the next couple of years.
Located roughly halfway between Timmins and Matheson, the Fox Complex is a series of gold properties and deposits, extending along Highway 101, that’s being explored and mined in a sequence.
The company is making the transition from mining the Froome deposit over to Stock West, which will become the primary source of gold production once Froome is tapped out in 2026.
Construction of an underground ramp to reach the Stock West ore body begins this quarter with development expected to be done at the end of next year.
The company also considers this area, which is the former Stock Mine, to be under-explored and believes the deposits are open to finding more gold at depth.
McEwen chairman and owner Rob McEwen discussed his Timmins prospects during a March 1 conference call about the turnaround of the company’s gold and silver assets, and the $54.7 million in profit posted for its 2023 fiscal year. The company has operations in Nevada, Mexico and Argentina.
McEwen said operations are generating positive cash flow, which is being funnelled back into exploration efforts in Timmins.
The company also raised $22 million in flow-through shares last fall to fund ongoing exploration and development.
The company has been drilling at Stock East, the next deposit in the project pipeline, and has returned some “intriguing” high-grade drill hits, said McEwen.
Exploration is also underway at its Grey Fox Project, a long-term project in the queue, where there are 1.2 million ounces of indicated gold in the project pipeline.
McEwen mentioned in last week’s call that the company would be in the market to acquire some ground around Stock.
“We're looking at possible additions, if we can make it of adjacent areas, that would be complementary to our production base.”
