Kirkland Lake Gold keeps adding ounces: Updated resource base shows Taylor, Macassa Mines remain fertile ground.

• Position: TEMISKAMING & REGION

Kirkland Lake Gold said there are more ounces to be mined in northeastern Ontario.

The company released an updated mineral reserve and resource estimate for its operations in Ontario and Australia in mid-February.

There are also plans for a new shaft at the Macassa Mine in Kirkland Lake to support higher production levels and provide more effective underground exploration. The two-phase project is expected to be completed by the end of 2023.

The Taylor and Macassa Mines continue to be proven performers for the Toronto-headquartered mid-tier gold producer.

As of last Dec. 31, the company showed consolidated reserves had increased 36 per cent to more than 4.6 million ounces at 11.1 grams per tonne (g/t), up from the 3.4 million ounces at 9.0 g/t recorded in December 2016.

The company's two mainstay operations are its Macassa Mine at Kirkland Lake and the Fosterville Mine in the state of Victoria, Australia.

Kirkland Lake Gold acquired Fosterville and other Australian gold properties in 2016. The same year, the company picked up the Taylor Mine, near Matheson, in its purchase of some northeastern mines from St. Andrew Goldfield.

Mineral reserves at the Taylor Mine complex jumped 29 per cent to 167,000 ounces at 4.8 g/t, up from 129,000 ounces at an average grade of 5.4 g/t the previous year.

In a Feb. 20 news release, the company said "significant exploration success was achieved" during last year's exploration program.

Step-out drilling yielded some high-grade results at multiple points up to 1.8 kilometres east of the Shaft Deposit.

Underground drilling identified a new gold zone 350 metres below the West Porphyry Deposit and more mineralization was found between the Shaft and West Porphyry.

The company's plan for this year is to keep exploring to add more ounces to the resource base.

"At Taylor, we increased our mineral reserves and had significant success identifying new areas of mineralization during 2017, which we expect will ultimately lead to significant reserve growth down the road," said Tony Makuch, Kirkland Lake Gold president-CEO, in a statement.

At Macassa, the company said it's made strides to replace the 190,000 ounces depleted from its resource base.

Mineral reserves now total 2,030,000...