$90-million expansion in works for Seabee mine
The new owner of SASKATOON Saskatchewan’s only gold mine is planning a seven-year, $90 million expansion it hopes will boost production, cut operating costs and extend the operation’s lifespan into the mid-2020s.
SSR Mining Inc.’s planned investment in the Seabee gold operation, which is about 125 kilometres northeast of La Ronge, is “really exciting,” said the president of the Saskatchewan Mining Association.
“I think the $90 million … that they’re looking at really sends a strong signal that they’re looking at re-investing in that whole area for the long term. It’s really significant,” Pam Schwann said.
SSR Mining acquired the operation — which consists of two underground mines, Seabee and Santoy, and a mill — as part of its $450 million friendly takeover of Saskatoon-based Claude Resources Inc. in May 2016.
The company said in a preliminary economic assessment that the expansion could boost the mine’s annual production by about a third compared to record-setting 2016 levels while cutting operational costs by about nine per cent.
“We see a bright future there. That’s why we’re putting our money where our mouth is,” said John DeCooman, vice-president of business development for the Vancouver-based company, which was until this year called Silver Standard Resources Inc.
DeCooman said the company is now taking its first steps along the “path to a bigger-scale operation” it saw at the time. That means finding more proven gold reserves which can be economically extracted and increasing “throughput” at the mill.
An independent technical report commissioned by the company and released last week cautioned that while its assessment is preliminary and may not be realized, further exploration and engineering work at the site is warranted.
DeCooman said that while the company’s expansion plans — which are not expected to create a significant number of new jobs — could be affected by fluctuations in the price of gold, it doesn’t foresee any issues.
Despite never having a long life expectation, the Seabee operation has been “slugging it out” since it entered production in 1992 and is today a “long-term success story” for the province’s mining industry, Schwann said.