Among its strengths, B2Gold is leveraging considerable expertise in working in Arctic environments at its Goose Project in NunavutSUPPLIED
The team at Vancouver-based B2Gold Corp. has mined all over the world, including in northern Russia, and now it’s using the expertise gained over eight projects to build one near its own backyard in Canada.
B2Gold’s Goose Project in Nunavut’s Back River gold district – about 500 kilometres north of Yellowknife – was added to its portfolio thanks to the $1.1-billion friendly takeover of Sabina Gold & Silver in April 2023.
“We took over at a stage where they were part-way into construction themselves,” says Clive Johnson, CEO of B2Gold. “We needed to catch up with what they’d done and what their plans were, and then build our own plan within and around that.”
Although good exploration, feasibility and relationship work had been done by Sabina, the latter with Inuit communities in the Kitikmeot region, Mr. Johnson says it’s “not ideal” to be picking up a project that’s already underway.
Sabina had, for example, planned to send two ships of construction materials from Montreal across the Arctic Ocean to Bathurst Inlet, but B2Gold decided it needed six ships instead.
“That’s because of our prior knowledge of Arctic construction,” he says. “We have a very strong in-house construction team. We built a couple of mines in northern Russia that required 460 kilometres of ice roads to get everything to a remote site above the Arctic Circle.”
For this project, B2Gold is building a 160-kilometre ice road to get mine equipment and construction materials to the Goose Project location. The goods were shipped last summer and stored at the marine laydown area until January, at which point it was cold enough to construct an ice road in order to move them cross-country from the shore, “across part of the ocean, the tundra and lakes,” he explains.
Mr. Johnson says the first gold pour at the Goose Project is expected in early 2025. The mill building, where ore is crushed, was erected in December 2023 on schedule, the mill installation is five months ahead of schedule, and B2Gold is enhancing the camp accommodations built by Sabina to help attract the best workers.
“Our commitment is to attract, hire and train Kitikmeot Inuit, so there continues to be a big focus on Inuit employment,” he says. “We inherited a strong relationship with local governments, the Kitikmeot Inuit Association and Kitikmeot Inuit, and we’re working with local organizations to provide training opportunities and develop employment pathways.”
The Back River gold district is an environmentally sensitive area, and B2Gold is also taking steps to work closely with Inuit to mitigate potential impacts to the greatest degree possible.
“We’re working closely with Inuit associations and Kitikmeot communities to look at things like caribou protection and the maintenance of fisheries to preserve traditional food sources,” Mr. Johnson says. “We have extensive monitoring programs. It’s a top priority for us and our project partners.”
Finally, as part of its sustainability efforts, B2Gold is working with communities to look at ways it can support community plans to enhance local infrastructure and get involved with initiatives that support elders and youth throughout the Kitikmeot region.
Produced by Randall Anthony Communications with the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada. The Globe’s Editorial Department was not involved.