Golden Giant Mine
| Location | |
|---|---|
| Location | Hemlo |
| Province | Ontario |
| Country | Canada |
| Coordinates | 48.00°41′N 85.00°54′W / 48.683°N 85.900°WCoordinates: 48.00°41′N 85.00°54′W / 48.683°N 85.900°W |
| Production | |
| Production | Over 6 million |
| Financial year | Through 21 years |
| History | |
| Opened | 1985 |
| Closed | 2006 |
| Owner | |
| Company |
Noranda (through Hemlo Gold Mines, Inc.) Battle Mountain Gold Newmont Mining |
The Golden Giant Mine is a closed underground gold mine in the Hemlo mining camp in Canada, located north of Lake Superior, midway between Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay, Ontario near the town of Manitouwadge.
Prospectors John Larche, Don McKinnon and Richard Hughes discovered gold in the Hemlo camp in the early 1980s, starting a staking rush not seen in Canada since the Klondike gold rush of the late 19th century. Two companies, Golden Sceptre and Goliath Resources, secured rights to a large land package in the area, and were subsequently acquired by Noranda.
Noranda permitted and built the Golden Giant mine in less than two years. With its first pour in April, 1985, the Golden Giant was the first mine in the camp to ship.
Peak production occurred in the early 1990s, approaching 500,000 oz per year. During its 21-year life, the mine produced over 6 million ounces of gold.
Noranda formed Hemlo Gold Mines, Inc. to operate the mine. Hemlo merged with U.S.-producer Battle Mountain Gold in 1996. That company, in turn, was acquired by Newmont Mining, who currently own the property, in 2001.
On September 22, 2010, Barrick Gold completed the acquisition of the Golden Giant Mine Properties at the Hemlo Camp from Newmont Mining Corp.
The grade of the ore is 0.36, in a host rock of quartz sericite schist.
The mine produced 446,858 ounces in 1994 with fully automated ore flow.
The mine was designed as a 3000-dmtpd (dry metric tonne per day) operation. With the Block 5 expansion, the mine shaft reached a depth of more than 5000 feet.
Originally owned by Noranda, shaft sinking and development were started by Canadian Mine Enterprises and when that company went bankrupt during 1983 shaft sinking, lateral and raise development, as well as the initial production mining, employing long hole mining methods, were executed by MacIsaac Mining and Tunnelling.
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