From Exploration and Mine Construction through Successful Production in the Pogo Gold Mine, Alaska, USA

Abstract

Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd. focuses on the “non-ferrous major class” mining company as its business strategy and the Pogo Gold Mine is situated at a very important position to achieve the goal. The mine was started with the grassroots exploration in 1991, as a first exploration project in which Sumitomo Metal Mining has majority share of project. A couple of gold deposits were discovered and defined during the exploration stage and the project was evaluated feasible to develop. The environmental permit process was started in 2000 and completed in 2004, in which especially the ore process flow was designed very carefully to prevent the surrounding nature from any impacts. The intensive construction works were initiated after approval of the environmental permits and twenty months had been spent to start ore processing in February 2006. The mine adopts the drift and fill mining method with paste backfill by using tailings from the ore process. Currently about 2,400tonnes/day of ore are mined and processed, which are above the plan in the feasibility study.