Some years back, De Beers commenced the Victor Mine Reclamation programme at the mine which is slated to go into a final closure mode next year. “The mine will complete mining and processing activities in Q1 2019, then move into the formal closure phase,” says the Company’s website.

In early July 2017, Stephen Monninger, Reclamation Manager at Victor Mine had said: “Nobody has ever done anything like this in the James Bay Lowlands. One of the advantages of getting this work started while we are still in operation is that we will be able to monitor how the trees are growing, allowing us to adapt our plans as required before the mine eventually goes into full-scale closure and reclamation.”

Now, the De Beers Victor Mine has successfully completed the 2018 reclamation programme, with more than 430,000 seedlings planted this year, the Company announced recently.

“Over 105,000 plants were grown on-site in a greenhouse and hydroponic seed starter “Crop Box” facility from seeds picked in the local area by Attawapiskat First Nation youth in 2017,” De Beers said. “The remaining 329,000 plants were brought in from off-site commercial local nurseries in Timmins and elsewhere using the local seeds that were harvested.”

Apart from this, the team implementing the reclamation programme has also collected 6.6 kilograms of local seeds over the past two months – that’s about 5.6 million seeds collected around the Victor Mine area by Reclamation technicians, Workforce North contractors and the Attawapiskat Labour Group, the Company said. Species collected included Green and River Alder, Paper Birch, Fireweed, Yarrow and more.

The cost of the 2018 programme amounted to approximately US$ 8.4 million. The bulk of the expenditure has gone towards the progressive earthworks programme completed by Timmins-based Northec crew. “The programme was designed to reshape the land to a natural contour, moving hundreds of tonnes of soil, muskeg and other material,” De Beers explained.

The earthworks team will continue reshaping areas around the mine throughout the coming winter, in preparation for the 2019 reclamation-replanting programme.

“Since progressive reclamation began at Victor Mine in 2014, close to 600,000 trees and plants have gone into the ground,” De Beers said.