Nugget Pond Produces Its First Gold Bar

The Baie Verte Peninsula is now producing gold bars destined for the Royal Canadian Mint with the successful restarting of the Nugget Pond processing facility, just outside Snook�s Arm.

Crew Gold (Canada) Ltd. has reported its first gold pour at the facility, which it acquired last fall to process gold ore shipped into the province from its gold mine in south-western Greenland. Each bar is a mixture of mainly gold, with some silver and base metals, and weighs around 20 to 25 kilograms. The bars are then sent to the Royal Canadian Mint for further refining.

�This is great news for the people of Baie Verte and the employees of the Nugget Pond facility,� said the Honourable Kathy Dunderdale, Minister of Natural Resources. �The company has been using lower grade ore to get the plant up and running and test the equipment. The successful pouring of the first gold bar is a very significant development that signals the return of gold production to the Baie Verte Peninsula.�

Crew Gold brought in its first shipment of gold ore to the Nugget Pond facility in February. The company currently has 23 full-time employees and more than 20 contractors providing security, trucking and janitorial services. A planned expansion later this year to increase capacity from the current 425 tonnes to 600 tonnes per day is expected to create another seven to nine full-time jobs.

�This first gold pour for Crew Gold is significant event for a number of reasons,� said Paul Shelley, MHA for Baie Verte. �It not only represents the successful reactivation of Nugget Pond mill, but more importantly it is the first time in our history that ore has been imported into this province for processing. This project along with Rambler and Pine Cove once again is making the Baie Verte Peninsula the mecca of mining on the island. It also shows what I�ve known for a long time � that miners from the Baie Verte Peninsula are among the best in the world.�

The mining industry is a significant contributor to rural Newfoundland and Labrador, with mineral shipments expected to top $3 billion in 2007 and exploration expenditures to reach $98 million.

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Photo #1: The first gold bars produced at the Nugget Pond facility, courtesy of Crew Gold.


Media contact:
Tracy Barron
Director of Communications
Department of Natural Resources
709-729-5282, 690-8241
tracybarron@gov.nl.ca

2007 03 27                                     4:25 p.m.