Newmont’s Musselwhite operation, in commercial production since 1997, has achieved a mine life milestone: the pouring of its 8,000th gold doré bar.
The miner, which announced the bar December 5, marked the occasion by inviting employees from across the business to gather for a celebration and speak on the changes witnessed at Musselwhite since its 7,000th bar was poured in 2018, including a new hoist system.
The group in attendance, the miner said, represented the diverse skill sets needed to produce doré gold: mining, milling, warehousing, human resources, sustainability, maintenance and more.
General Manager Mark Kiessling, who assumed his role shortly before the operation celebrated its silver jubilee in 2022, said: “We are really proud of this milestone. It’s a testament to the hard work, dedication and commitment that everyone at Musselwhite has made to ensuring our best days lie ahead.”
Located on the traditional territory of North Caribou Lake First Nation in Northern Ontario, Newmont Musselwhite was one of the first mines in Canada to enter into a comprehensive agreement with First Nations communities. The mine employs about 1,000 employees and contractors today.
Kiessling said that, although the mine has shown a strong trend of improvement and fosters an excellent safety culture that embraces Newmont’s values, the past few years have been difficult, making the milestone all that more vital.
“After a conveyor fire in 2019 halted production for nearly a year, the mine experienced further intermittent shutdowns in 2020 and 2021 because of the global COVID-19 pandemic – but these setbacks did not slow the operation down,” he said.
“Instead, Musselwhite used the pauses in production to understand how to operate more efficiently and position the operation for long-term success, leveraging global collaboration to increase business value, balance economic factors and offset operational headwinds. Anticipating future growth, the site is also investing in upgrading its camp.
“You can see the improvement in ore tons and the improvement in gold ounces mined. And we expect that trend to continue.”
Musselwhite, located on the southern shores of Opapimiskan Lake, produced 173,000 ounces of gold in 2022, with just under 2 million oz. in reserve at year-end.
Source: Newmont