Last of the big three: Timmins' Dome underground to end mining activities in July.

AuthorKelly, Lindsay
PositionMINING

With its ore reserves depleting, it was inevitable that the closing of Goldcorp's Dome underground mine would come sooner rather than later. But a constant decrease in gold prices over the last year was the final blow for the 106-year-old mine.

Goldcorp announced Ian. 14 that Dome underground would cease operations by the middle of 2016. It's the last of the "big three" gold mines--Hollinger, McIntyre and Dome--that made Timmins one of the world's most prolific mining camps and helped put the city on the map.

In 1909, Dome was the first of the big three to be discovered, during an expedition led by Jack Wilson. Production started in 1910 and Dome produced continuously until 2004 when the mine was put on care and maintenance. Production resumed in 2006.

It is the country's oldest and longest producing mine. And one of the most prolific.

Early in 2015, Brendan Zuidema, general manager of Porcupine Gold Mines, was quoted saying there was an estimated five years' worth of ore left in the ground. What a difference a year makes.

"One of the big drivers, obviously, is the gold price," he said.

"A year ago, when we were looking at things, the gold price was still around US$1,500, so it was still up there a little bit. But with the gold price down around $1,100 and approaching $1,000 an ounce, that's one of the big drivers."

But aside from that, the mine is old and, along with it, its infrastructure. Operating costs for the mine are around the same cost of the gold being extracted, putting Goldcorp in a break-even situation and making it harder for the mine to be profitable, Zuidema said.

Rather than put Dome on care and maintenance to see if prices improve, the company is looking forward, assessing the potential in using the underground mine for its tailings, something that is still in the permitting phase and awaiting Ministry of Environment and Climate Change approval.

"On the big picture side, there's some big, big potential savings there if we can put tailings underground here and in the pit, versus putting them in our tailings pond," he said.

The company has pinpointed July 31 as its production end date, although mining activities could cease before then--it depends on the next five months.

"As long as we can make safe, efficient production until then, we'll keep it going, and then at that point we kind of run out, because we're stopping...

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