No 'red flags' yet for Kaminak Gold project near Dawson City

Kaminak Gold corporation is aiming to finish a feasibility study for its Coffee Gold project near Dawson City by the end of the year.

The Vancouver-based mining company wants to build an open-pit gold mine at a property 130 kilometres south of Dawson City.

Last year the company completed a preliminary economic assessment.

CEO Eira Thomas recently told an audience at the Dawson City Gold Show that the site could contain more than 4.2 million ounces of gold.

"Every project has to go through various stages of assessment and because the results of our PEA were so strong, and we didn't identify any red flags for the project through that process, we decided it merited going straight towards a feasibility study."

The study has an estimated cost of about $30 million. 

Access road would span 250 kilometres

Kaminak also wants to build a 250-kilometre access road to the site. The company has a shortlist of three possible routes. The single-lane gravel road would be used only for building and supplying the mine. Workers would be transported in and out by air.

The company is meeting with Tr'ondek Hwech'in First Nation and other residents this week to discuss the project. The Coffee Gold site is now supplied by barges on the Yukon River. 

Thomas says Kaminak hopes to start construction in 2018. But the company has yet to seek regulatory approval to build the mine.

The company will be drilling at the site until the end of June.

"The deposit is strong and it's simple. This is what we really like to emphasize with Coffee. We're not going to be building a tailings dam. We don't need a mill. It's a very simple project."

Project considers LNG power 

 Kaminak is also considering liquefied natural gas to power operations at the site. 

"Certainly the environmental footprint would be less with LNG and it would be more cost-effective," Thomas said.

Kaminak Gold recently hosted students from Yukon College's Centre for Northern Innovation in Mining, who examined the site as part of their graduating year-end project.