The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) is inviting public comments on Porcupine Gold Mines’ (PGM, a Goldcorp subsidiary) proposed Century Gold project to help assess whether an environmental assessment is required before its approval.
The federal agency is soliciting comments “on the project and its potential for causing adverse environmental effects” between Aug. 13 and Sept. 4.
Plans for the Century Gold project call for the construction of a new mill and the expansion of PGM’s existing Dome open-pit mine in Timmins.
According to the CEAA, the area of mine operations would expand by more than 50 per cent. The mine would operate for between 10 and 16 years and include an open-pit gold mine with an ore production capacity of 70,000 tonnes per day. The on-site metal would also have an ore input capacity of 70,000 tonnes per day.
Century Gold has been proposed as a way for PGM to find new sources of gold as its resources in the Timmins gold camp dwindle.
PGM’s Dome underground mine closed in 2017 after operating for 107 years, while the Hollinger open-pit operation is expected to close in 2021 or 2022. That leaves PGM with the Hoyle Pond underground mine and the processing facility.
Goldcorp’s other Northern Ontario assets include Musselwhite Mine, located 500 kilometres north of Thunder Bay; Red Lake Gold Mines, located 180 kilometres north of Dryden; the Borden development project near Chapleau; and the Cochenour development project in Red Lake.
Comments on Century Gold can be submitted to:
Century Gold Project
Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency
55 York Street, Suite 600
Toronto, Ontario M5J 1R7
Telephone: 416-952-1576
Fax: 416-952-1573
Email: CEAA.Century.ACEE@canada.ca
