Richmont Mines Declares Commercial Production at W Zone Gold Project

Richmont Mines Inc. (TSX:RIC,NYSEMKT:RIC) declared commercial production at the W Zone Gold Project on October 1, 2013. W Zone is expected to produce an estimated 3,000 ounces of commercial gold production for the Corporation during the fourth quarter of 2013, and a projected 12,000 ounces of commercial gold production in 2014.

As quoted in the press release:

The W Zone Mine is an underground operation accessed via a ramp on the Corporation’s Beaufor Mine property, 25 km northeast of Val-d’Or, Quebec. Ore from the mine is trucked approximately 50 km to the Corporation’s Camflo Mill in Malartic, Quebec. As of December 31, 2012, the W Zone Mine had Probable Reserves of 132,251 tonnes grading 7.21 g/t, for 30,680 ounces of gold, Indicated Resources of 107,511 tonnes grading 6.76 g/t, for 23,377 ounces of gold, and an additional 5,589 tonnes of Inferred resources grading 7.95 g/t, for 1,429 ounces of gold.

Richmont Mines President and CEO, Paul Carmel, said:

We are very pleased to announce that the W Zone Mine has been transitioned into our producing asset portfolio, and that our capital investment over the past several years will now begin to generate cash flow for the Corporation. The additional 5,000 tonnes per month from this asset will translate into efficiency improvements and lower unit cost levels at our Camflo Mill, which is currently operating at full capacity with material from our Beaufor, W Zone and Monique operations.

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