 | ||
The abitibi gold belt is a region of Canada that extends from Wawa, Ontario to Val-d'Or, Quebec. Located within the mineral-rich Abitibi greenstone belt, the gold belt is an established gold mining district having produced over 100 mines, and 170 million ounces of gold since 1901. Timmins, a town founded in 1912 following the porcupine gold rush and subsequent creation of the Hollinger, MacIntyre and Big Dome Mines, is one area in the region that experienced a gold rush beginning in 1909. The Kerr Addison Mine in Virginiatown was at one time Canada's largest gold producing mine. Many of the towns readily acknowledge gold mining as part of their history, some being named after gold (Val d'Or means 'valley of gold', Kirkland Lake's nickname is 'the mile of gold'). One of Canada's 'large roadside attractions' is a 12 foot replica of a 1908 gold sovereign built to commemorate Canada's first five ounce gold coin which was made using gold from the Kerr Addison mine.
Mining in the region experienced a resurgence between 2000 and 2010 when two companies, Osisko Mining and Detour Gold began investing heavily in two areas, Malartic and Detour Lake; low production costs have helped bring more attention back to the area. Malartic (which began commercial production in June 2011) will contribute about $3.25 billion to the region's economy over 20 years and Detour Lake about $1.0 billion. The four mines that historically comprised the Malartic property are Canadian Malartic, Barnat, Sladen and East Malartic. Gold mines in the Kirkland Lake area are still active, having contributed to the formation of Kirkland Lake Gold Inc. The Detour Lake gold project near Cochrane, Ontario is North America's fourth biggest undeveloped gold deposit; when it opens in 2013 it will produce at an annual rate of approximately 649,000 ounces for 16 years. Another $1.5 billion is being invested in Matachewan, Ontario where Northgate's 2.5 million ounce Young-Davidson gold mine is located.
The abitibi greenstone belt in which the gold belt is situated has produced over 35 billion pounds of zinc, 15 billion pounds of copper, and 400 million ounces of silver, most of which was mined in and around Timmins, Ontario. The Greenstone Belt is part of a larger granite-greenstone-gneiss terrain called the Abitibi subprovince, part of the Archean Superior Province.