Greenstone Gold has won approval to move its Hardrock Project forward. The Ontario government approved the provincial environmental assessment in the last week of March.
Greenstone Gold Mines is a 50/50 partnership between Centerra Gold Inc. and Premier Gold Mines Limited for the joint ownership and development of the Hardrock, Brookbank and Viper Properties.
The properties are located in the Geraldton-Beardmore Greenstone Belt in Northern Ontario, and are made up of several claim groups having a cumulative length of more than 100 kilometers of the district's most prospective geological structures, said a company news release.
The historical mine site was actively mined from the 1930s to the 1970s, and in later years was known as the MacLeod-Mosher complex. Existing land uses in and around the Project include urban, rural and recreational areas. The Hardrock Project is located in northwestern Ontario, approximately 275 kilometres (km) northeast of Thunder Bay, in the Municipality of Greenstone, Ward of Geraldton.
“We have crossed a significant milestone for the Project with the approval of both the federal and provincial EAs now complete” said Eric Lamontagne, General Manager of GGM.
“With these approvals now in place, we look forward to continuing to work with stakeholders to progress the Hardrock Project through permitting”.
A project overview from a feasibility study in December 2016 revealed:
- Open Pit with 14.5 year Life of Mine
- Gold production of 4.2 million ounces at 1.02 g Au/t
- Gold price assumption is US$1,250/oz (exchange rate $1.30 CAD/US $1.00)
- Mill throughput design is 27,000/t of ore per day with the possibility to extend up to 30,000/t per day
- Initial capital cost of CAD$1.25 billion
- After-tax payback period of 4.5 years
- Average of 450 employees over the life of mine
- Reducing current environmental effects from historical mining activities through rehabilitation measures to address the historical MacLeod and Hardrock tailings. These rehabilitation measures are expected to improve overall water quality in Kenogamisis Lake compared to existing conditions.
- Increasing employment and skills development, through the creation of full-time employment in Northern Ontario in each of the approximately 23 years from construction through active closure. On average the Project will result in the equivalent of 1,225 jobs in Ontario in each year and of these, 385 jobs per year would be directly associated with the Project
- 2016 43-101 Technical Report published
- 2018 Federal Environmental Impact Statement approval received
- 2019 Provincial Environmental Assessment approval received
