Gold mining back to Nova Scotia with imminent Moose River mine construction

Together, they are forecast to produce 87,000 ounces of the yellow metal a year during their eight to nine years of mine life.

While Nova Scotia has experienced three relatively short-lived gold rushes over the past 150 years, the persistent issue has been profitably.

Gold deposits in the area are referred to by geologists as “nuggety” pockets of high gold concentrations located sporadically in quartz veins. The difficulty this has long posed is access — how to chase narrow veins of rock with random pockets of gold at a reasonable cost.

As a consequence, a few companies have come and gone, with the most recent case being Ressources Appalaches’ Dufferin mine. The asset produced 921 ounces of gold during its one year of operation in 2014, significantly less than its target of 20,000 ounces per year.

Eventually, the operation was put into receivership after its owner defaulted on $11 million in loans from Lascaux Resource Capital Partners of New York.

Atlantic Gold has four projects in Nova Scotia: the Moose River Consolidated Project (MRC Project) comprising the Touquoy and the Beaver Dam gold deposits, the Cochrane Hill gold deposit, and the Fifteen Mile Stream deposit. (Map courtesy of Atlantic Gold)

The province of Nova Scotia has received $18,000 to maintain the key exploration licence at Dufferin, which consists of 14 claims covering 226 hectares of land. That lease, however, expires next month.

Despite the hic-cups, analysts believe the province is ready to reap rewards from the extraction of its 2.7 million ounces of proven gold reserves through business tax, income tax, royalties and employee spending.

After dropping 40% from a 2011 peak of $1,920 an ounce in the closing months of 2015, gold has gained more than 25% so far this year to above $1,330 an ounce, defying predictions that it would tumble to below $1,000.