A local mine's officially broken ground for a major expansion.
Alamos Gold's Island Gold Mine held an official groundbreaking ceremony on Monday, marking the start of construction for its Phase Three expansion, which is expected to increase Island Gold's production by 70 percent, to an average of 236,000 ounces of gold a year with mining and milling rates rising from 1200 tonnes per day to 2000, once construction's completed in 2025.
The expansion also includes "upgrades to the crushing circuit, the addition of a second parallel ball mill, and a new elution and carbon-in-pulp circuit."
Ontario Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources, and Forestry Minister Greg Rickford was among the dignitaries in attendance, and - speaking with JJAM FM News ahead of the event - touted this as a show that "the North is open for business".
Rickford was also in Wawa earlier in the day to help cut the ribbon for the East-West Tie Line - the 450-kilometre transmission line from Wawa to Thunder Bay went into service March 31st - and announced a conditional grant of $15-million over four years for Wawa OSB to build the province's third oriented strand board manufacturing facility, expected to help satisfy growing demand for building materials in Canada and the US.