Timmins assets to be 'critical component' for Tahoe Resources.

Tahoe Resources is calling its new Timmins-area assets a "critical component" in growing the company following its acquisition of Lake Shore Gold.

The company announced the merger between Tahoe and Lake Shore gold had been completed on April 1.

Tahoe's new 2016 guidance includes total gold production of between 370,000 and 430,000 ounces of gold. By 2020, the company wants to be producing 550,000 ounce of gold annually.

"Our new Lake Shore Gold Division is a critical component of our value creation plans," Tahoe CEO Kevin MacArthur said in a release.

"Specifically, our strategy includes growing gold production in Timmins by approximately 40 per cent, to over 250,000 ounces per year by 2020."

To achieve this, the company will recommission and extend the shaft at the Bell Creek Mine to depth, which the company estimates could more than double production at that operation.

The company will also continue to advance the Whitney Project, which MacArthur said could begin as an open pit and then transition to underground mining.

Tahoe also wants to achieve commercial production at the 144 Gap deposit in 2017.

"We are also contemplating a further expansion of the Bell Creek Mill to...