After more than a decade, heavy equipment is moving and gold is being produced at the Ressources Appalaches Mine in Port Dufferin, N.S.
“We started the production in April of 2014, so now we are in a ramp-up period to reach our full capacity of 300 tonnes per day,” says Alain Hupe of Ressources Appalaches.
With 300 tonnes of ore to process, the main aims to produce 25,000 ounces of gold a year.
Crushed rock is sent to the surface where it is tumbled through a large drum and the gold separated. The fine dust is then sent through a flotation circuit, like an automated prospector panning for gold dust in his bucket.
Under previous owners, the Dufferin mine closed in 2001, but Hupe says things have changed since then.
“Pretty simple. In 2001 when they opened, the price of gold went below $300 per ounces,” says Hupe. “Now we are $1,300 dollars per ounces, as simple as that.”
Eighty people are working at the mine site, many of whom are Maritimers who spent years working in mines out west, or up north.
“Oh, it’s good, it’s home every night now,” says miner Don Chapman. “I was on the road for 26 years mining away from home and now I’m home.”
Hupe says the mine is now producing gold daily and he expects it will be in full production by August.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Dan MacIntosh
