N.S. gold mine cutting jobs as extraction work winds down

Nova Scotia'sonly gold mineis cutting dozens of jobs as it winds down operations after five years.

St Barbara, the Australiancompany that owns the Touquoygold mine in Moose River, N.S., said in a statement on Thursday that 44 positions are beingeliminated. Tenother workers are being offered "alternative opportunities."

Overall, the company said it's reducing the number of jobs in its Atlantic operations from 292 to 182, but 56 of the positions being eliminated are already vacant.

Staff were informed of the cuts onJan. 3-4, the statement said, withmining activity expected to wrap up by the end of January.Workers still employed at the mine will millore stockpiled at the site.

The open pitmineopened in 2017, and is located about 60 kilometresnortheast of Halifax. It's the only operating gold mine in the province.

Environmental concerns

Last year, environmentalists raised concerns about a proposal by St Barbara's Canadian subsidiary, Atlantic Mining Nova Scotia Inc., to raise the height of a wall around atailings pond at the site.

A provincial court judge also ordered Atlantic Mining Nova Scotia to pay $250,000 in fines and other penaltiesin February 2022, after it pleadedguilty to federal and provincial environmental charges.

Atlantic Mining Nova Scotia admitted it had failedto properly test for the level of sedimentin water that could be hazardous to fish habitat, and that it had failed to report findings regularly to government, as required.

St Barbara has proposed developing three other gold mines in the province. All are at different stages of environmental review.

Thecompanyalso has operations in Australiaand in Papua New Guinea, according to itswebsite.