https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/
Pierre Rocque said Kirkland Lake Gold’s plans to be more sustainable are going strong. The vice-president of Canadian operations said among major changes, the company has moved towards having about 80 per cent of their underground operations at their mines battery-powered.
Rocque gave a light-hearted presentation at the monthly meeting of the Sudbury chapter of Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) on Jan. 18 at Dynamic Earth on a few updates on the mine, including the acquisition of Australian properties; progress at their properties in Kirkland Lake, including Taylor and Macassa mines; and the use of battery-powered equipment and biological means to extract gold.
“We’ve come a long way from a junior minor, to a mid-tier with properties around the world,” Rocque said. As a highlight, Rocque announced the company is well on its way to its underground operations being primarily battery-powered.
The company started purchasing battery-operated vehicles, which were retrofitted diesel machines, and have a fleet of about 30 pieces of equipment. “I can say we are probably the single largest user of battery-operated equipment,” Rocque said.
Kirkland Lake Gold purchased vehicles with Atlas Copco (now Epiroc) and RDH at first, and they were retrofitted. They recently purchased pieces from Artizan, which Rocque said has only recently ventured out from car batteries to heavy industry.
For the rest of this article: https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/top-stories/the-green-future-of-kirkland-lake-gold-820651