Abitibi gold belt
Encyclopedia
Wawa, Ontario
Wawa is a township in the Canadian province of Ontario, located within the Algoma District. Formerly known as the township of Michipicoten, the township was officially renamed for its largest and best-known community in 2009....
to Val-d'Or, Quebec
Val-d'Or, Quebec
-External links:* ***...
. Located within the mineral rich abitibi greenstone belt
Abitibi greenstone belt
The Abitibi greenstone belt is a 2,800-2,600 million year old greenstone belt that spans across the Ontario-Quebec border in Canada. It is mostly made of volcanic rocks, but also includes ultramafic rocks, mafic intrusions, granitoid rocks, and early and middle Precambrian sediments.-Geographical...
, the gold belt is an established gold mining district having produced over 100 mines, and 170 million ounces of gold since 1901. Timmins
Timmins
Timmins is a city in northeastern Ontario, Canada on the Mattagami River. At the time of the Canada 2006 Census, Timmins' population was 42,997...
, a town founded in 1912 following the porcupine gold rush and subsequent creation of the Hollinger, MacIntyre and Big Dome Mines, is one area in the region that experienced a gold rush
Gold rush
A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers to an area that has had a dramatic discovery of gold. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, and the United States, while smaller gold rushes took place elsewhere.In the 19th and early...
beginning in 1909.
The Kerr Addison Mine in Virginiatown was at one time Canada's largest gold producing mine. Many of the towns readily acknowledge gold mining as part of their history, some being named after gold (Val d'Or means 'valley of gold', Kirkland Lake's nickname is 'the mile of gold'). One of Canada's 'large roadside attractions' is a 12 foot replica of a 1908 gold sovereign built to commemorate Canada's first five ounce gold coin which was made using gold from the kerr addison mine.
Mining in the region experienced a resurgence between 2000 and 2010 when two companies, Osisko Mining and Detour Gold
Detour Gold
Detour Gold Corp. is a Canadian gold mining company with operations centered around the Detour Lake gold project, north of Cochrane, Ontario. Most of the company's employees are from Cochrane and Timmins, Ontario...
began investing heavily in two areas, Malartic
Malartic, Quebec
Malartic is a town on the Malartic River in northwestern Quebec, Canada, in the La Vallée-de-l'Or Regional County Municipality. It is located about east of the centre of Rouyn-Noranda along Quebec Route 117 and the Canadian National Railway....
and Detour Lake; Low production costs have helped bring more attention back to the area. Malartic (began commercial production in June 2011) will contribute about $3.25 billion to the region's economy over 20 years and Detour Lake about $1.0 billion. The four mines that historically comprised the Malartic property are Canadian Malartic, Barnat, Sladen and East Malartic. Gold mines in the Kirkland Lake area are still active, having contributed to the formation of Kirkland Lake Gold Inc. The Detour Lake gold project near Cochrane, Ontario
Cochrane, Ontario
Cochrane is a town in northern Ontario, Canada. It is located east of Kapuskasing, northeast of Timmins, south of Moosonee, and north of Iroquois Falls. It is about a one-hour drive from Timmins, the major city of the region. It is the seat of Cochrane District...
is North America's fourth biggest undeveloped gold deposit; when it opens in 2013 it will produce at an annual rate of approximately 649,000 ounces for 16 years. Another $1.5 billion is being invested in Matachewan, Ontario
Matachewan, Ontario
Matachewan is a small township in Timiskaming, northeastern Ontario, Canada, located at the end of Ontario Highway 66 along the Montreal River.The town's main economy is based on mineral mining, mainly gold mining, with some tourism.-History:...
where Northgate's 2.5 million ounce Young-Davidson gold mine is located.
The abitibi greenstone belt in which the gold belt is situated has produced over 35 billion pounds of zinc, 15 billion pounds of copper, and 400 million ounces of silver, most of which was mined in and around Timmins, Ontario. The Greenstone Belt is part of a larger granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
-greenstone-gneiss
Gneiss
Gneiss is a common and widely distributed type of rock formed by high-grade regional metamorphic processes from pre-existing formations that were originally either igneous or sedimentary rocks.-Etymology:...
terrain called the Abitibi subprovince, part of the Archean Superior Province.
Mines in the region by historic production
| prod | Timmins Timmins Timmins is a city in northeastern Ontario, Canada on the Mattagami River. At the time of the Canada 2006 Census, Timmins' population was 42,997... |
Kirkland Lake |
Rouyn Noranda |
Val d'Or | Cadillac | prod | Virginia- town |
Malartic | Duparquet | Holloway | Matat- chewan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| '000 oz | 64,000 | 24,000 | 15,000 | 15,000 | 12,000 | '000 oz | 11,000 | 8,000 | 1,000 | 1,000 | 1,000 |
Source Wealth Daily
Gold mining companies with interests in the area
- Armistice Resources - Recently purchased and actively drilling Kerr Addison property. Pre-production activity on adjacent property to west.
- Barrick GoldBarrick GoldBarrick Gold Corporation is the largest pure gold mining company in the world, with its headquarters in Toronto, Ontario, Canada; and four regional business units located in Australia, Africa, North America and South America...
- Owns the Bousquet Mine in Northwest Quebec. Mined in East Malartic in 2002. - Kinross GoldKinross GoldKinross Gold Corporation is a Canadian-based gold mining company with a gold production guidance of 4.5 to 4.9 million gold ounces by 2015. Kinross owns mines and projects in Canada, the United States, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Russia, Ghana and Mauritania, employing approximately 7,500 people...
- Operated in the Kirkland Lake area but sold a lot of its interest later on to Kirkland Lake Gold Inc. - Kirkland Lake Gold Inc. - Virginiatown, Kirkland Lake.
- Osisko MiningOsisko MiningOsisko is a development stage precious metals mining company headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. It operates in Canada with a focus on gold mines in the Abitibi gold belt of Quebec. The company was known as Osisko Exploration LTD...
- Malartic, Quebec (100% owned) and Atikokan, Ontario (Duparquet 50% interest was abandoned in 2011) . - Northern star mining - Exploration properties in the areas comprising Cadillac, Bousquet, Malartic. Core operation is at a property known as Midway.
- Britannica resource corporation - TSX Venture ExchangeTSX Venture ExchangeThe TSX Venture Exchange is a stock exchange in Canada. It is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta and has offices in Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal. All trading through the Exchange is done electronically, so the Exchange does not have a "trading floor"...
listed exploration company that runs the McKenzie Break and Destor-Porcupine Blake River projects in Quebec. - Lake Shore Gold - Operates the Timmins, Thunder Creek, other TW properties, Bell Creek mill, Bell Creek complex, Blakelock, Casa Berardi, Tipahaakaanin gold projects in Quebec and Ontario. There are also projects in Mexico.
- Atlanta gold inc. - Canadian company whose main property is in Atlanta, IdahoAtlanta, IdahoAtlanta is an unincorporated town in Elmore County, Idaho, United States. It was founded in 1864 during the Civil War as a gold and silver mining community and named by Southerners after a rumored Confederate victory over General Sherman in the Battle of Atlanta, which turned to be wholly false,...
. All other projects are in Quebec, including Abitibi mines Normar, Mouskor, and Malartic H acquired in 2008. - Titan resources - Cooper Gold property near Val d'Or, Quebec. Based in Oklahoma.
- Harte gold corp. - nano cap company founded in 1982 that explores primarily on the Ontario side of the belt.
- Century MiningCentury mining corporationThe Century Mining Corporation is a Canadian gold producer formed in 2003. The company has produced 9.4 million ounces of gold....
- Lamaque mine in Val d'Or, Quebec. - Detour GoldDetour GoldDetour Gold Corp. is a Canadian gold mining company with operations centered around the Detour Lake gold project, north of Cochrane, Ontario. Most of the company's employees are from Cochrane and Timmins, Ontario...
- Detour Lake gold project. - Clifton Star Resources - Owns the Duparquet gold project in Quebec (since June 2011 when Osisko walked away from its 50% share). The Duparquet mine produced 1 million ounces of gold between 1931 and 1957 when it was managed by Beattie Gold.
- Moneta Porcupine Mines Inc. - Gold explorer that operates east and west of Timmins, Ontario (where it is based). Exploration is centered around the township of Michaud, Ontario (Destor porcupine fault, Golden Highway which has 10 distinct mining zones) with others located near the Quebec-Ontario border. Controlled by management and institutional investors.
- Northgate Minerals - owns 100% of the Young-Davidson gold project in Matchewan, Ontario 60 km from Kirkland Lake. The property used to be known as the Matachewan Consolidated mine.