Overview -
The Kemess Mine is located in the southern Toodoggone area of northern British Columbia, Canada. The property encompasses 77,000 acres. It is approximately 430 kilometres northwest of Prince George.
The mine consists of an open pit copper-gold mine, Kemess South, a 52,000 tonnes per day mill, and several undeveloped deposits, notably Kemess North. Kemess South has reserves to continue operation until 2008 and development of Kemess North could extend operations until 2020. Kemess South produces approximately 300,000 ounces of gold and 75 million pounds of copper per year.
The Kemess South deposit was identified in the early 1960s. In the early 1990s the property was acquired by Royal Oak Mines which brought the mine into production in 1998. Northgate Minerals acquired the property in 2000. Northgate has upgrade the mine and mill and improved operating efficiency in several areas.
The mine currently employs 440 people. It is a fly-in / fly-out operation.
Kemess gold-copper concentrate is transported by truck about 380 kilometres on a gravel road to a rail spur at Mackenzie, BC. There it is loaded onto a train and sent to Noranda's Horne smelter in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec for processing.
The principal assets of the mine are the 300,000-ounce per year Kemess South mine and adjacent Kemess North deposit, which contains a Proven and Probable Reserve of 4.1 million ounces of gold. In 2007/08, Northgate decided not to develop Kemess North as a result of the 2007 Environmental Review Panel's decision to not approve the project as proposed.
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