Heather Latter
Though some work already has been underway at New Gold’s Rainy River Project site north of Barwick, an official ground-breaking ceremony was held Friday atop the land where the open pit mine is set to be developed.
Rain didn’t dampen the spirits of the New Gold personnel, community leaders, and government reps who were bused to the site for the special event.
“It’s a wonderful day for the Rainy River District,” enthused Geoff Gillon of Rainy River Future Development Corp., who acted as the emcee for the ceremony held under a large white tent.
“It’s been a long time coming,” he remarked, noting various companies have been “poking holes” in the hill since as far back as the 1960s.
“It’s been a very long lead time but we’re here,” Gillon stressed.
“It’s exciting.”
Gillon then turned over the mic to project general manager Grant Goddard, who recognized the teamwork it took to get to the ground-breaking.
“We’re so proud of the accomplishments so far on our journey and we’re looking forward to continuing that journey,” he remarked.
“While New Gold and our team has done a tremendous amount of work to get to this milestone . . . we could not have made it this far without the fantastic support of everyone who is outside of the New Gold family—our local neighbours, our First Nations’ communities, our local communities, [and] our governmental agencies local, provincial, federal.
“Today’s milestone is truly a team success,” Goddard reiterated.
“[And] the future, as we move forward, will continue to be characterized by that team success.”
“It has been a long time coming but it’s been a necessary and important process for all of us,” said Kyle Stanfield, New Gold’s director of environment and sustainability, thanking all of the partners involved.
“We’ve really taken a strong journey together over the last five years, with the leadership originally of Raymond Threlkeld, our former CEO of Rainy River Resources,” Stanfield noted.
“Together with New Gold now today, it’s a very important, special day of turning the ground and starting with construction.”
Stanfield said they held more than 200 open houses in the district over the three years of the Environmental Assessment process.
“We consulted with people, we got opinions, ideas, and went back and worked with our engineering groups to redesign things to maximize our use of the land and resources, and to respect what floristic communities we live with where we are developing,” he remarked.
Under Goddard’s leadership, Stanfield said New Gold is developing a sound and pre-eminent team to run the operation.
“And I’m sure it’s going to be a success for many, many years to come for this district,” he added.
David Schummer, executive vice-president and Chief Operating Officer with New Gold, thanked those on hand for coming out “as we come together and recognize what is a collective opportunity to accelerate the construction of this project.”
“We are going to build this project—if there are any doubts out there,” he vowed.
“And when I say we, I mean the collective we,” Schummer added, referring to all the partners involved in the project.
“We’re going to build this place together and we have to work together because we all have a common interest in making this project work,” he stressed.
“And it’s going to take efforts and co-ordination from all of us,” Schummer warned.
“There will be some areas where we might not necessarily agree, but we will work through those if we have the right attitude.”
Schummer said that being a value-based company, this is an opportunity to demonstrate that New Gold will execute upon, carry out their business, and interact in a manner consistent with its values.
“With respect to environmental stewardship, our commitment is unwavering,” he pledged.
“Not only do we have world-class standards and procedures and excellent people, but we actually believe that it is our responsibility to care for the environment.
“And that’s our complete intention going forward.”
Schummer noted that operationally, the Rainy River Project will nearly double the size of New Gold’s current production.
“I’m here to tell you we will deliver on this project from a cost and budget standpoint,” he vowed.
He noted New Gold has demonstrated this in the past with construction of the New Afton project over the last couple of years, which came in on schedule and on budget.
“And most recently, we made a significant expansion to the milling operation and that actually came ahead of schedule and under budget,” Schummer remarked.
“So we have a track record of delivery and we will deliver on this project, for sure.”
Schummer said the project will create 550 new jobs between the New Gold employees and contractors.
“But the more impressive stat is if you look at the indirect employment,” he noted.
“We’re approaching nearly 2,000 jobs that will be created.
“And I know that is important to us as a company, but it’s important to people that are out there right now who aren’t working,” Schummer reasoned.
“As we work together collectively, we’re going to get to a much better place in terms of employment in this area.”
Brian Penny, executive vice-president and Chief Financial Officer for New Gold, echoed the significant investment of the project.
He said the challenge is to get it done on time and on budget within two-and-a-half years.
“We have a plan laid out to accomplish this and the prize is it will double our cash flow, which will allow us to reinvest money at expanding Rainy River, looking for further opportunities up here,” Penny noted.
He added the money also will be used for expansions on New Gold’s other mines—and perhaps contributing to building another new mine in Canada at some point down the road.
Penny indicated the current life of the mine is about 14 years.
“[But] with any open-pit mine, we anticipate a much longer mine life as we add to the resource and reserve base moving forward,” he explained, noting the project is well-financed.
“Three-quarters of the funds are in the bank today or available on a undrawn revolver,” Penny said.
“The cash flow from our existing operations will fund the balance, and we feel that we are in great shape to execute on our plan and deliver things on time.
“If you look at the future economic impact to the province of Ontario, right now we employ about 16 people here,” Penny continued.
“But in 2018, which will be the first year of commercial production, we are looking to contribute directly about $250 million to the province of Ontario GDP [gross domestic product] direct and about $80 million indirect.
“So a significant contributor to a great part of the province that needs investment at this point in time,” he stressed.
Penny also thanked Northern Development and Mines minister Michael Gravelle and his team for their work in getting the Rainy River Project involved with “stream three” of the Industrial Electricity Incentive Program.
“[It] provides guaranteed power supply, as well as a reasonable rate for the next eight years,” he explained.
“It was a key part in making our decision to invest in this project and it provides us certainty in power rates.
“I’m really excited about this project,” Penny added. “It’s a game-changer for the company.”
Gravelle thanked all the partners for working so hard together to make the project happen.
“This is an exciting moment,” he enthused. “For any minister to actually be able . . . to break the ground for a new mine, this is pretty special stuff.”
Gravelle also thanked New Gold for being a great corporate citizen.
“You’ve demonstrated a remarkably strong commitment to this region in many ways,” he remarked, adding he’s very excited about the mining sector in Ontario.
“There are 43 operating mines in this province and there are going to be more coming in the future.
“Northwestern Ontario itself is a absolutely vibrant mining region, and this project will ensure that the north continues to have a strong future,” Gravelle added.
“It’s not every day that our district is able to welcome 400 construction jobs and a further 550 jobs in production over the lifetime of this project,” echoed local MPP Sarah Campbell.
“These jobs will be a boom to our economy and will mean that 550 families will be able to stay in our region,” she noted, thanking New Gold for its vision and investment, and its corporate citizenship, in making this project a reality.
“It’s taken a lot of work and perseverance to bring this project to fruition.”
Two community leaders also thanked New Gold for its work on the Rainy River Project.
“We worked a lot with New Gold over the part few years,” noted Chief Wayne Smith of Naicatchewenin First Nation.
“They’ve done many consultations within our First Nations’ communities,” adding New Gold always listened to the communities regarding the environment.
“We support the project 100 percent,” Chief Smith stressed. “It’s a benefit not only to our First Nation communities but right across the district.
“I’m really grateful to be a part of this process.”
“It is a historical day in the lives of the people in the Rainy River Valley,” said Chapple Coun. Rilla Race, reading a statement from Reeve Peter Van Heyst, who was unable to attend Friday morning’s ceremony.
“After many years of prospecting by various entities, the day has now arrived to put shovels in the ground to honour the minerals present there,” she read, adding they [Chapple] want to thank New Gold for taking on the challenge of developing these properties.
“This endeavour brings with it many responsibilities and expectations to be a good steward, and we know that New Gold is committed to that end,” Coun. Race noted.
“It is good to see the economic engine of our communities being refuelled.”
Stanfield, Schummer, Penny, Campbell, Gravelle, Smith, and Race each then used a gold shovel to officially break ground on the Rainy River Project.
A lunch was held afterwards at the Barwick Hall.
