Northern Ont. is officially home to Canada's newest gold mine

Argonaut Gold says it achieved its first gold pour at the company's Magino Mine in northern Ontario on June 14.

Magino is Argonaut's first Canadian operation and is located in Dubreuilville, located about 300 kilometres north of Sault Ste. Marie and just under 500 kilometres east of Thunder Bay.

"We are proud of the Argonaut team for delivering Canada's newest gold mine. The Magino mine is key to achieving our vision to become a low-cost, mid-tier North America gold producer that … proudly demonstrates responsible mining,” said Richard Young, president and CEO of Argonaut Gold, in a news release Thursday.

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The ramp-up of the processing plant remains on schedule with commercial production expected later this year.

"With the first gold pour milestone behind us, we are now focused on completing commissioning and ramping up the mill to steady state,” said Marc Leduc, the company’s chief operating officer.

“In addition, we are looking to further grow our flagship gold mine as we commence a reserve development drilling program intending to increase reserves in combination with studies to expand and optimize mill throughput, both scheduled to begin later this summer."

The company said the mine is expected to produce as much as 81,000 ounces of gold in 2023 and approximately 148,000 ounces of gold in 2024, its first full year of production.

The reserves development program that is projected to start later this summer will take 12 to 15 months to complete according to company officials. The program will look to expand the mining project by converting open pit resources to reserves within the mine’s current structures and testing deep underground high-grade targets and open pit targets to the west of the current deposit.

Officials said a review of mill optimization and expansion opportunities will also be commenced this summer to potentially raise throughput rates and increase annual production.

Argonaut says it plans to be mining in the area until 2040.

For more information on the Magino Mine project, visit Argonaut Gold’s website.