Centerra Gold Suspends Mill Processing at Mount Milligan Mine

Centerra Gold Inc. (TSX:CG) announced that mill processing operations have been temporarily suspended at its Mount Milligan mine in BC due to insufficient water resources.
The company expects operations to recommence at partial capacity by the end of January and at full capacity after the spring melt.
As quoted in the press release:

As disclosed in the Company’s news release of October 31, 2017, Mount Milligan experienced a drier than normal spring and summer during 2017 with a limited amount of spring snow melt. This resulted in lower than expected reclaim water volumes in the tailings storage Facility (TSF) at Mount Milligan which is used for mill processing operations. The water shortage has been exacerbated by unanticipated extremely cold temperatures at Mount Milligan, which has resulted in a greater than expected loss of water volumes in the TSF due to ice formation.
In the fourth quarter of 2017, the Company sought to mitigate the water shortfall by drilling additional water wells to draw water from nearby aquifers located on the property. While such wells were partially successful, the additional water obtained was not sufficient to offset the loss of water volumes noted above. In addition, as a further, longer-term mitigation measure, the Company is pursuing an amendment to Mount Milligan’s Environmental Assessment (EA) to allow pumping of water from a nearby lake (Phillips Lake) and is applying for the additional related permits.
It is expected that by the end of January 2018 there will be adequate fresh water available to restart mill processing operations utilizing just one of the ball mills (38,000 tpd to minimize water requirements). The Company expects that additional fresh water will become available after the spring melt, typically in April, at which time it expects to re-start the second ball mill returning mill processing operations to full capacity. However, as noted, above, the availability of water is subject to, among other things, natural forces that can be unpredictable.

Click here to read the full Centerra Gold Inc. (TSX:CG) press release.