Harte Gold's siren call to return to work

A phased restart of the Sugar Zone gold mine, north of White River, begins July 17, so says Harte Gold.

Now fully funded to resume operations after a combination of a COVID-19-related shutdown in March and liquidity issues, the Toronto-headquartered mining company is recalling its workforce and will be in full operation by month's end.

Activity will begin with the continuation of mine development and backfill activity, Harte said in a July 14 news release.

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The company closed a US$9.5-million private financing with ANR (Appian) Investments, a majority owner of the company and its only mine in northwestern Ontario.

The money is part of a larger US$30-million ($40.8 million) package to restart the mine, craft plans to boost gold production over the next 18 months, and continue exploration to expand gold reserves and resources on its massive 79,000-hectare property.

The company's also making a transition from contracting mining to managing its own in-house workforce and fleet of vehicles.

“With the first tranche of the financing completed, we are mobilizing our work force to site in a safe and orderly manner. We have received an overwhelmingly positive response from our employees, who are eager to return and excited to start," said Harte Gold president-CEO Sam Coetzer in a statement.