The deposit lies under a bay of Springpole Lake. The construction plan — currently under the federal environmental review process — involves building dikes and draining the bay to carve out a pit and access the orebody. Once approved, construction of the 30,000 tonnes-per-day open pit mine is expected to begin in 2027.
According to a prefeasibility study from January 2021, primary mining at Springpole is expected to occur for nine years, resulting in average annual production of 335,000 oz. The remaining three years of its 12-year mine life will be used to process lower-grade stockpile, for average annual production of 287,000 oz.
The final EIS, which was submitted Nov. 4, represents the culmination of two and a half years of consultation and engagement since the draft EIS of May 2022. According to First Mining, the report incorporates over 14 years of research and data collection and includes several…
