NIRB certifies Doris North
Water board approval needed after project certificate amendment approved
Beth Brown
Northern News Services
Saturday, October 8, 2016
HOPE BAY
Gold bars are on the horizon for Doris North.
TMAC Resources Inc.'s Hope Bay/Doris North gold mine project has received an amended certificate from NIRB for extended work on site. - NNSL file photo
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"We are in full development and soon to be full production," said Catherine Farrow, TMAC Resources' chief executive officer. "We have been mining with full crews since October of 2015. We have a stockpile of ore on site."
TMAC Resources Inc. announced in late September that it has received an amended project certificate from the Nunavut Impact Review Board for the Doris North Gold Mine project.
The Hope Bay mining facility installed its processing plant this summer, marking the second stage needed for TMAC to declare the project commercially operational. This is expected to happen early in 2017.
TMAC now awaits approval from the water board, expected by Christmas.
The mine, which is 125 km south of Cambridge Bay, carries 3.5 million ounces in reserves in its three deposits. Farrow said the gold produced is high quality, even in this first stage of bulk processing.
The updated NIRB certificate allows the mine to increase its life extension from two to six years, and allows mining in zones known as Doris Connector and Doris Central. This added area and duration also increases the tonnage to 2,000 tonnes per day.
Farrow said the amendment was requested with future operations in mind, to support ancillary programs that go along with full production.
"We'd like to do some more exploration in the belt," she said. The camp is at capacity at around 180 beds. Another 100 are to be added as production develops, now that the amended certificate has been received. "We need to accommodate those people."
Alex Buchan, TMAC's director of external and community relations, said recruitment for production is in full swing.
"There are a wide variety of jobs at Hope Bay, we are essentially a self contained community."
He said the site has been at worker capacity all summer.
"We've had our production workforce building the process plant and another crew assembling the modules inside the new building," he noted. Once production starts at the processing plant, "it'll just be a different composition of workers."
The company's contractors are approved by the Kitikmeot Inuit Association (KIA), and have first crack at contracting opportunities. Contractors also provide on-the-job training.
In the spring, TMAC signed a 20-year benefit and land agreement for the Doris North gold mine project with the KIA and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.
