Lake Shore Gold is optimistic

Gold continues to be the dominating news story in Timmins this year as yet another gold producer is ready to begin producing more of the precious metal that saw the discovery of this community some 100 years ago.
Tony Makuch, the newly appointed CEO of Lake Shore Gold, says there are new beginnings in the century-old Porcupine mining camp. He was speaking to a Chamber of Commerce business luncheon Thursday.
Makuch admitted he was more than enthusiastic for the Timmins West property located on Highway 101 west, just before the Highway 144 turnoff.

NEXT GREAT GOLD MINE
“The Timmins West property really has the potential to be one of the next great gold mines coming out of Timmins and depending on how much you want to dream of where it can be, it can become as big as some of the current gold mines,” Makuch told the lunch crowd at Cedar Meadows.
“In terms of current reserves, we have 1.2 million ounces of gold at Timmins West,” said Makuch, adding it was just based on the drill holes from surface.
“In this industry, and in mining in Northern Ontario, this is really, as far as I’m concerned, it’s like having a big leap ahead of everybody else,” he said.
He said the company had been able to identify a substantial amount of gold reserves based on the surface drilling alone.
“Who knows what we’re going to find once we go underground,” he added.
“He added that the plan is to bring the Timmins West mine into production by the end of 2009 but if factors are more favorable, it might even be possible to have that mine in operation by the end of this year.
In response to a question from the audience Makuch said there would be truck traffic from the new mine in the West End to the Bell Creek Mill located at the end of Florence Avenue in Porcupine. He said the initial plan is to mill 300 tonnes per day at Bell Creek, hauling the ore in 40-tonne trucks, which would work out to seven or eight truckloads a day.