Pure Gold on track to open Red Lake mine this year

Despite coronavirus-related measures, the Vancouver miner reported “significant progress towards completing construction” of the mine in the gold-rich region.

The combination of strong gold prices and a declining Canadian dollar, the company said, provides a rare positive investment outlook for what will also be a significant employer at a time of shrinking job numbers. Including contractors and excluding corporate positions, Red Lake is expected to employ about 400 people.

Pure Gold said it continued to build size and scale at the mine. This month’s drilling will focus on converting resources to reserves and increasing resources from new high-grade discoveries at surface and at depth.

The detailed engineering of the process plant is 95% complete and mine construction is close to completion.

Senior gold miner ambitions

“We are building a fully-funded, long-life growth company uniquely positioned in the Red Lake camp, one of the world’s largest gold-producing districts,” President and chief executive, Darin Labrenz, said in the media statement.

“Our opportunity is tremendous: the real potential to become Red Lake’s next senior gold producer,” Labrenz said.

Pure Gold’s mine, located 15 km from Evolution Mining’s Red Lake mine, is considered one of Canada’s highest-grade gold development projects.

A feasibility study released in February 2019 outlined a 12-year, high-grade underground mining operation capable of producing 125,000 ounces of payable gold annually.

The site produced 2.5 million ounces of gold between 1938 and 1976. The asset was briefly put back into production in the late 1990s before the collapse in the gold price.