The federal Minister of Natural Resources, Amarjeet Sohi, is in northern Ontario this week, and was on hand for a big announcement at the Borden Gold Mine in Chapleau on Monday.
It's the Goldcorp operation that is moving entirely from diesel to electric and is being called the ‘mine of the future.’
"Our government plans to support Goldcorp in this project with an investment of five million dollars. This is the future for our country. This is the future of mining, and this is the future that we want to support, because the days of using diesel on mine sites are numbered." said Sohi.
Funded by Ottawa's Clean Growth Program, the investment will help Goldcorp replace all diesel mobile equipment at its Borden Mine with battery-powered electric vehicles.
It will be the first underground mine in the country to do so.
“The fact that we have our first mine, all electric, just shows that it can be done. And the fact of that is that now we're looking at mining, not only as a leader when it comes to innovation, but as a clean leader.” said Sudbury MP Paul Lefebvre.
Both Ottawa and Goldcorp see the investment as a win-win, as they say it will reduce operating costs at the mine, while providing jobs for local and Indigenous communities.
And there will also be significant environmental benefits too.
“This is a good example where 250 new jobs are being created, at the same time as 70% environmental footprint reduction.” said Sohi.
“We do see this as being a lower-cost solution for us in terms of overall life of mine operations.” said Brent Bergeron, of Goldcorp.
Goldcorp expects to be fully electric underground when production at the Borden Lake Mine is scheduled to begin in 2019.
