Con Mine

Con Mine
Con mine site
Location
Con Mine Location in Canada 62°26′20″N 114°22′18″W / 62.43889°N 114.37167°W / 62.43889; -114.37167Coordinates: 62°26′20″N 114°22′18″W / 62.43889°N 114.37167°W / 62.43889; -114.37167
Territory	Northwest Territories
Country	Canada
Owner
Company	Newmont Mining Corporation
Year of acquisition	2008
History
Opened	1938
Closed	2003

The Con Mine was a large gold mine located in the Northwest Territories, just south of Yellowknife. The property was staked by Cominco in September 1935 in response to the discovery of visible gold nearby. The advent of winter prevented any prospecting from being conducted, but work in the summer of 1936 led to the discovery of numerous gold veins. Con Mine entered production in 1938 and ceased operations in 2003. It has produced over 5,000,000 ozt (160,000 kg) of gold from 12,195,585 tons of ore processed.

Owners of the mine have included Cominco (1938–1986), Nerco Minerals (1986–1993), Miramar Mining Corp. (1993–2008), and Newmont Mining Corp. (2008-present).

Con Mine is within the Kam Group which is part of the Yellowknife greenstone belt.

Future prospects

The defunct mine's deep shafts pose the possibility of extracting geothermal energy for heat generation free of greenhouse gases. The mine has the potential to heat half of the city of Yellowknife.^[1] A Memorandum of Understanding forged between the city of Yellowknife and Corix Utilities in June 2011 gave new impetus to the project.^[2]

References

1. ^ "Yellowknife looks to old mine for geothermal energy." CBC News. Accessed June 2011.
2. ^ "Yellowknife's Con Mine project with hope through MOU with Corix Utilities" Think Geo-Energy. 14 June 2011|Accessed October 2011.