Page 35 W i t h p o w e r f u l a n d p r o d u c t i v e m a c h i n e s , f a c t o r y - t r a i n e d t e c h n i c i a n s a n d t h e i n d u s t r y ' s o n l y 4 8 - h o u r p a r t s g u a r a n t e e , w e t h i n k y o u ' l l a g r e e : D o o s a n d e l i v e r s . T i m m i n s , O N | 7 0 5 . 2 6 8 . 7 6 0 0 w w w . r e a d y q u i p . c o m Page 34 By Gregory Reynolds Kirkland Lake Gold Inc. expects to nearly double its gold production in 2013 over 2012’ s total. The company reports its tar get is 150,000-180,000 ounces as against 90,000 for its present fscal year 2013. The company’ s year is May 1to April 30 so only its third quarter , November through January , results have been re - leased. Kirkland Lake Gold’ s corporate goal is to create a self sustaining and long lived intermediate gold mining com - pany based in the historic Kirkland Lake Gold Camp. The company plans to do this by increasing production capacity to 2,200 tons of ore per day in several stages, and by decreas - ing production costs by realizing the economies of scale associated with that higher production capacity . At the same tim e, the company is com - mitted to maintaining a signifcant ex - ploration program aimed at develop - ing and maintaining a property wide reserve and resource base suffcient to sustain a mine life of more than ten years for as long as practicable. A key develop ment at its South Mine Complex (SMC) was putting its ser - vice cage into operation near the end of the quarter . It frees the main pro - duction hoist to increase the hoisting of both ore and waste, and to increase the slinging activities required to bring heavy equipment into the mine. This will work to reduce the devel - opment shortfall in the higher grade SMC, and to bring more ore mining workplaces on line. Signifcant prog - ress has been made on all these fronts during the month of February . Company chairman Harry Dobson commented “the new service cage went into operation at the end of the quarter , a signifcant milestone for de - livery of the company’ s growth plans. W ith this in operation, hoisting ca - pacity was expected to increase from 1,000 tons per day to 1,800 tons per day . Based on February trials, this capac - ity has been achieved. Daily hoisting rates in excess of 1,800 tons per day (up to 2,160 tons per day in one day) were achieved on several days during the month. The average hoisting rate during Feb - ruary was 1,300 tons per day of ore and waste and this is expected to in - crease steadily going forward. Signifcant progress has also been made towards reducing the backlog of ore and waste waiting to be hoist - ed, towards reducing the backlog in material waiting to go under ground and in slinging heavy equipment into the mine. The increased capacity will support the planned development of new stopes in the higher -grade areas of the mine,” Dobson said. Y ear to date net loss and comprehen - sive loss was $10.1 million compared to net income and comprehen sive in - come of $41 million for fscal 2012. After meeting all operating costs, spending $22.8 million on infrastruc - ture and $4.1 million on exploration, total cash resources (including short- term investments) as at Jan. 31, 2013 were $87.9 million. As of March 8, 2013 this number had increased to $90.5 million. The timing of gold sales and accounts receivables as well as accou nts pay - able payments also infuence the cash balance between reporting periods. The company expects to hire ap - proximately 200 more people, taking the total workforce to approximately 1,200. This employee head count is expected to be suffcient to produce at a rate of 2,200 tons per day once train - ing and experience needs are met. At these ore production levels, pro - ductivity is expected to double from current and historic rates due to the completed infrastructure upgrades, which will be a signifcant driver in reducing operating costs going for - ward. In 2001, the company acquired 13,000 acres of fve contiguous formerly pro - ducing gold mines, which had histori - cally produced 21 million ounces of gold grading 15.1 grams per ton (0.44 ounces per ton) primarily from the Main/’04 Break system. The current focus is on expanding gold produc - tion from the Main/’04 Break, and a new discovery area, the SMC. In January 2009, the compa ny initi - ated a series of three projects aimed at increasing the production capacity to 2,200 tons per day . The 2,200 ton per day capacit y milestone is current - ly tar geted for completion between January and April of fscal year 2014 The new ball mill is currently being assembled in the fully constructed new mill building. This new ball mill and other mill upgrades will increase milling capacity from 1,450 tons per day to 2,200 tons per day . This project is tracking to complete in the summer with the excess capacity not required until Q3 of fscal year 2014. The overall project budget to com - plete the infrastructure upgrades re - quired to reach this tar get is $95 mil - lion, of which $79.5 million had been spent by the end of January , 2013. The processing plant upgrade, the hoisting capacity upgrade, and the re - maining under ground mobile equip - ment purchases represent the lar gest segments of unspent project capital. Project spending in some non-criti - cal path Expansion Project areas has been delayed where practicable to match progress on the critical path. The company has consistently stayed within budget during all phases of the Expansion Project. Kirkland Lake Gold can see doubling of ounces production