Advanced explorations
NORDGOLD
-40 Celsius , at least outdoors , and then it becomes very hard on the equipment . Our plant will be allweather when it ’ s enclosed and will be capable of operating in Arctic climate conditions ,” says Wilcox . “ The plant should be operable even in the most extreme climate . It ’ s not exactly in an easy position – it ’ s got challenging topography , alongside access to the site itself but there ’ s enough gold and we have to work around these things .”
The Gross mine is certainly remote – it is located 100km from the nearest community . Despite this , Nordgold is keen to give back to the indigenous people of Yakutia . “ Nordgold tries hard to bring zero harm and is supportive of the local community in all regions we operate ,” acknowledges Wilcox . In Yakutia , Nordgold supports communities that live on the territory where the Neryungri mine operates . Indigenous people called Ewenki represent a part of this community . This ethnic group has been living in Yakutia for centuries and reindeer breeding has always been their traditional occupation . Apart from providing jobs for these people , building schools and houses for young professionals , the Neryungri mine helps the Ewenki to maintain their traditional lifestyle tightly related to the reindeer breeding – Nordgold provides herders with gasoline , goods and transport .
“ Our approach certainly depends on the project and where it is . Obviously , the community ’ s not as big a thing at Gross where it ’ s a very remote project , but certainly during my work on the Bouly project , we completed a resettlement project for 3,000 people ,” Wilcox reveals .
Advanced explorations
In addition to Gross , Nordgold has several other projects it intends to develop . “ There is our French Guiana project – Montagne d ’ Or – and then there ’ s exploration project Pistol Bay in Canada , and some other Russian projects . I think Nordgold is one the bolder companies and it ’ s already got a very well-advanced development pipeline ,” Wilcox concludes .
84 October 2017