Mining News
Macassa shines as richest gold mine in Canada in Q3 2021 - report
(Kitco News) - Kirkland Lake Gold’s Macassa mine was the highest grade gold operation in Canada in Q3 2021, followed by Wesdome Gold’s Eagle River mine and Alamos Gold’s Island Gold mine.
The grade or concentration of a mineral or metal in ore directly affects costs associated with mining as well as its subsequent beneficiation and extraction of precious components.
Kitco ranked currently active gold operations in Canada based on gold grade in a tonne of processed ore reported for Q3 2021. Kitco looked at operations that are separate reporting units and which have gold grade figures disclosed by the owners/operators.
Kirkland Lake Gold’s Macassa mine, located in the Municipality of Kirkland Lake, within Teck Township, District of Timiskaming, in the northeast of the province of Ontario, is the richest gold mine in Canada and one of the richest gold operations worldwide. The company reported an average processed grade of 19.1 g/t gold for Macassa in Q3 2021, an increase of 24% over Q3 2020 when operations were impacted by excessive heat in the mine and ongoing protocols related to the company’s COVID-19 response.
Wesdome Gold’s Eagle River mine, located 50 kilometres due west of Wawa, Ontario, is the second richest gold operation in Canada with 13.4 g/t gold grade reported in Q3 2021, which was slightly 3% lower than a year ago.
Alamos Gold’s Island Gold mine is the third highest grade mining operation in Canada, located just east of the town of Dubreuilville, Ontario, 83km northeast of Wawa. Average milled grade in Q3 2021 remained at similar levels to the second quarter, averaging 8.9 g/t Au, however it was 35% lower than a year ago. The company said that grades are expected to slightly increase in the fourth quarter, and average approximately 10 g/t Au for the year.
Pretium’s Brucejack mine sits fourth with 7.8 g/t gold grade in Q3 2021, which was 9.3% lower than the 8.6 g/t in the comparable period in 2020. Brucejack is a high-grade gold mine located in northwestern British Columbia, approximately 65 kilometers north of Stewart.
SSR Mining’s Seabee, the fifth highest grade gold mine in Canada, is located along the Trans-Hudson Corridor in east-central Saskatchewan. Seabee mill feed grade was 7.7 g/t gold during the third quarter of 2021, a decline of 24% compared to the previous year.
All top 10 highest grade gold mines in Canada are underground operations. The complete list is below.
