The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.
TIMMINS – Representatives from Goldcorp gave Timmins city council a tiny glimpse into the future of the Hollinger Mine open-pit project on Monday.
A handful of conceptual renderings of eventual Hollinger Lake were presented by general manager Marc Lauzier and mine superintendent Paul Miller as part of the report.
But the news everyone at council really wanted to hear was that the goals surrounding the Hollinger Project haven’t changed, despite nervous times in the gold market.
“I’m not going to lie to you, there’s a lot of questions around the community about what’s going on, with the price of gold declining,” said Lauzier. “Of course, it’s been steadily around $1,380, $1,400, $1,350 (per ounce), so people have been worried about that.
“I had a conference call with our COO and our VP of operations on Friday night, and I’m proud to report that after that call, we remain committed to doing this project,” he said. “We’re committed to returning it for safe public use, however, we’re going to do so in a fiscally responsible manner because we have to. Nothing’s changed, really. We’re going to keep our guys employed until we get our permit.
“Our senior executive was was on site about three weeks ago, and all they asked to do was re-evaluate and take a good look at it to make sure it still makes sense with these gold prices.”
Lauzier made it clear he believes it does.
A meeting with the Ministry of the Environment later in the week means that air and water quality permits could be granted shortly thereafter.
“As far as I can tell, we should be blasting soon,” said Lauzier. “Everything’s on track.”
With some competitors cutting staff to save on costs to make up for the drop in gold prices, Lauzier added all the company’s workers will remain employed for the near future.
Among other updates, Miller announced the haul road from the Hollinger property to the mill near Schumacher is complete, including an eight-metre-high berm along the North side adjacent to homes. Workers will continue to upgrade the road’s base.
A pumping system has been commissioned at the McIntyre headframe, and crews will continue to remediate mine hazards located below the planned berm around the Hollinger pit.
The company also listed close to a dozen interactions with city residents about Goldcorp’s activities around the property.
Among them, multiple residents in Fairway Village stated that rapid snow melts had caused water runs around and beneath their trailers. Miller said the source of the runoff was confirmed to be from the Hollinger property. The water was re-routed with ditches, and the property damage protocol was followed with inspection, recommendation and compensation.
The city has also prepared and issued an RFP (request for proposal) for a project agreement manager and for a third-part consultant for acoustic, blasting and vibration and particulate audits.
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