N.S. gold mining work at Touquoy site hoped to boost jobs, economy

A Nova Scotia gold mine project has gotten the go-ahead.

A gold mining project at a shuttered mine on Nova Scotia’s Eastern Shore is promising jobs and revenue for the provincial economy.

Atlantic Gold Mining received approval last week to resume work at the Touquoy gold mine in Moose River and that work is expected to ramp up later this year.

There won’t be any blasting or digging, said the mining company, which is a subsidiary of Australia-based mining company St Barabara, which has operated in Nova Scotia for several years.

Atlantic Mining plans to process a stockpile of ore sitting on site and turn it into nearly 40,000 ounces of gold, said their Canadian business development director Dustin O’Leary.

“So far there was still about roughly three million tons of ore that that would provide roughly $200 million in development and economic benefit,” said O’Leary.

Atlantic mining operated the Touquoy mine stie from 2017 to 2023 before shutting down after its tailing pond reached maximum capacity.

O’Leary said the company at its peak employed nearly 400 people, with most of the jobs in rural Nova Scotia. Since then the workforce has dropped to around 40, but company officials hope to start rebuilding it soon.

“It’ll be about 197 or just shy of 200 jobs that we anticipate,” said O’Leary.

The Tim Houston government has been clear: they want to revive the mining sector in Nova Scotia, particularly around gold and other critical minerals.

Houston, who is also the province’s energy minister, has been travelling around the globe trying to attract investment in mining here, pitching it as a path to greater economic prosperity,

The Department of Natural Resources says this approval and another at the Goldboro site in Guysborough County signals Nova Scotia is open for business, while stressing the industry is heavily regulated.

Janice Zinck, executive director of geoscience and minister for the Department of Natural Resources, says there’s collaboration across government to ensure the right rules are in place and there’s capacity to ensure permits and approvals from private industry are dealt with succinctly.

“We’re working collectively together to make sure that we are not only working efficiently permitting a project, but we are providing strong oversight to that to make sure that the project is safe and is responsible, and it does bring benefits to Nova Scotians,” said Zinck.

The processing work at the Tuoquoy mine is expected to last between 10 to 14 months, said O’Leary but the company has its sights on transitioning its operation to the “15 Mile Stream Gold Mine project site” located between Sheet Harbour and New Glasgow.

Atlantic Mining hope to mine for gold for the next decade at that site but O’Leary says no permits have been submitted yet.

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