Hemlo gold destined for Pan Am Games in Toronto

Barrick Gold is telling the stories of some of its workers behind the thousands of medals that will be supplied by the mining company to the Toronto 2015 Pan Am and Parapan Am Games.

All of the gold, silver and copper for the medals come from the three of the company's mining sites: copper fromChile,silver from the Dominican Republicand gold from northwestern Ontario.

"Just like the athletes coming to the games, our employees across the Americas are committed to a culture of teamwork, perseverance and excellence," stated the opening wordsin a promotional video on Barrick's Facebook page.

Jim Harasym, a mining supervisor in at Barrick'sHemlo mine east of Marathon, Ont.said metal produced from the site is done so "with Hemlo pride."

"Nobody thinks about where that metal came from ... we think about that every day," he said.

The competition medals for the games were unveiled Monday during an event at Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum.

The Royal Canadian Mint will craft the medals, which for the first time in Pan Am and Parapan Am Games history will include Braille.

The organizing committee said the artwork on the medals "highlights Aboriginal traditions of welcoming guests and cherishing the beauty of the natural world" and was developedwith the input of Christi Belcourt, a Mtis visual artist.

The medals measure 86.7 millimetres in diameter, roughly the same as a softball, and weigh 350 grams about the weight of a can of soup.

About 6,600 athletes from 41 countries will compete in 36 Pan Am sports including 28 Olympic sports plus 15 Parapan Am sports. A total of 4,283 medals will be awarded in 825 medal events.

Canada is fielding its largest-ever Pan Am Games team of 700 athletes, and has set a goal of finishing second in the medals behind perennial champion U.S. with 160.

The Pan Ams will run July 10-26, while the Parapan Am Games are Aug. 7-14.

Pan Am Games medals unveiled

10 years ago

Duration 0:26

The 2015 Toronto Pan Am Games were unveiled Tuesday, and are the first ones to feature braille.