Anaconda Mining plans changes to proposed Goldboro mine

A company that wants to develop a gold mineon the Eastern Shore is making significant changes to its proposal.

Anaconda Mining originally planned to create a 125-hectare surface and underground gold mine just outside Goldboro, N.S.,about 250 kilometres east of Halifax.

The proposal called for ore to be processed on site and then for gold concentrate to be trucked to the company's Point Rousse processing facilitynear Baie Verte, N.L., via the North Sydney ferry.

Company spokesperson Lynn Hammond said the new plans will includea full-scale mill that will produce gold dor, or partially refined, bars at the Goldboro site.

The revised plans also modify the original layout "with a goal of further minimizing environmental impact," Hammond said.

The amount of time mining at the surface before moving underground will also shrink to two years from three years.

Hammond said the new proposal reflects input received from Mi'kmaqorganizations and communities.

The original project was submitted for environmental approval in August 2018.

But the environment minister said the company's submission didn't contain enough information. Sheasked Anaconda to write a new, more extensive report on the environmental implications of the project, and gave a one-year deadline.

This September, three days before that deadline, Anaconda withdrew its proposal for the Goldboro mine from the environmental assessment process. Hammond saidNova Scotia Environment advised the company to withdraw it because of the planned changes.

The company plans to submit a new environmental assessment before the end of thismonth.

The original plan called for construction to begin in 2020 and for production to wrap up in 2029. Hammond said that timeline hasn't changed.

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