Site preparation work is well underway on Marathon Gold‘s Valentine Lake gold mine near Millertown in central Nfld.

Marathon COO Tim Williams says approximately 110 people are cutting trees and clearing the site as well as replacing and expanding the damaged Victoria River bridge. That work is expected to be completed by the end of this month.

The company has also brought in 84 loads of Caterpillar mining equipment—which equates to 20 pieces of mining equipment because it takes several load beds to carry one truck.

The camp pad is being prepared and camp modules will be brought in to prepare the campsite and have it up and running by February or March. At that time the contractors will be brought in to begin work on the process plant.

First ore is expected to run through the processor about two years from now. Full production in phase one is expected by March 2025.