Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

QAMANITTUAQ/BAKER LAKE
Productivity is slated to increase during next year's Three Bluffs gold project drill season, but the budget is expected to stay the same.

An aerial view of North Country Gold Corp.'s Three Bluffs project Hayes camp, located about 300 km north of Baker Lake. The photo was taken this summer, when several upgrades were made at the camp. - photo courtesy of North Country Gold Corp.

Upgrades at the North Country Gold Corp. project site north of Baker Lake were completed this season in order to ramp-up drilling and exploration activities in a more efficient and cost effective manner, the company said.

"With the upgrades to the infrastructure, we'll be able to do more, basically with less," vice president of corporate development Brian Budd said.

Infrastructure improvements completed at the Three Bluffs site include upgrading Hayes, the project's largest camp, from an 80-man capacity to a 100-man facility, power generation installation, new kitchen and washroom facilities, in addition to waste water treatment and incinerator equipment. Two 35,000-litre bulk fuel tanks were put in, in addition to two 3,800 square-foot quonset huts for heavy equipment storage. A 3,300-foot gravel airstrip is also being constructed to accommodate larger aircraft, and the installation of a heated water system to the drill site, will help lengthen future drilling seasons, Budd said.

The infrastructure upgrades were completed by British-Columbia-based JDS Energy and Mining Inc..

"The scale of the infrastructure upgrades to the Three Bluffs project reflect our belief in the viability of the project to deliver an economic gold resource in the future," said North Country president and CEO John Williamson, who discovered the greenstone belt 18 years ago.

About $25 million was spent on this year's program, and there are no plans to "necessarily up the budget," for next year, Budd said. "But definitely up the productivity.

"We accomplished 30,000 metres worth of drilling this year," he said. "And with the upgrades to our infrastructure, we'll be able to go in next year and potentially drill more metres but with less capital."

North Country's goal for next year is to drill between 40 and 50,000 metres, using 10 drills rigs-up from the seven used this year.

"Again, giving the opportunity to employ more people," Budd said. About 28 local workers were employed by the project this year, pulled from nearby communities, including Rankin Inlet and Gjoa Haven. The total number of workers this year was 250 people in and out, Budd added, including environmental staff, and contractors.

North Country recently announced the upgrades in a news release praising Nunavut's regulatory agencies for approving the necessary land and quarry leases, permits and licences, in a timely fashion.

"We are very pleased with the prompt issuance of the permits and licences from the Government of Nunavut, (Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada) and the (Kitikmeot Inuit Association)," Williamson said.

The regulatory process took about six months, and the relative smoothness of the approvals had less to do with relationship building the company has done in the region, and more to do with "what Nunavut's trying to achieve," Budd said. "Nunavut has recognized that the resource industry is of huge value to the territory," he said. "And I think they recognize that this is a great opportunity for the people of Nunavut to embrace."

North Country plans to take results from this year and last year's drilling seasons and update the project's resource estimate, which is currently at 750,000 ounces, at a grade of six grams per tonne on average, Budd said. The updated resource is expected to be released in the first quarter of 2012.

Edmonton-based North Country Gold Corp. closed Thursday on the TSX Venture at $0.84.

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.