Bonanza Ledge, the mine in closest proximity to Prince George, is operational despite the threat of wildfire.
The gold mine is located on the outskirts of Wells and did have to halt operations for a brief period, but work is underway once again. According to Chris Lodder, CEO of Barkerville Gold Mines, the owners of the Bonanza Ledge gold operation, about 210 employees are on site at any given time.
"We are extracting anywhere between 2,000 and 5,000 tonnes per day. It's much smaller than the big gold-copper mines in B.C., we are gold only, and it is less material but higher grade," Lodder said.
There are no fires directly impacting the Wells or Barkerville sites, but with highway closures and fires dotted all over the Cariboo, transportation is a problem.
Out-of-town goods, services and employees usually travel Highway 97 then turn east on Highway 26 for the final leg into Wells. If it comes from Quesnel or Prince George, the access is still open but anything south of that is blocked by highway closures and evacuations in the Williams Lake and 100 Mile House areas.
The ore removed from Bonanza Ledge also has to travel. Barkerville Gold Mines owns the Quesnel River Mill that renders all the earthy materials from the dig site.
"That's a drive of 110 kilometres," said Lodder.
"The plan will eventually be to mill at the mine site. We only have enough room at the QR Mill site to handle maybe five more years of material. It's a good mill, and we invested a few million dollars to get it ready for the re-start (Bonanza Ledge operated in previous years under different ownership but only restarted this past spring) but it is not the final answer for us."
There are other gold deposits under Barkerville Gold Mines ownership as well, all in the same area around Wells, and Bonanza Ledge is being used as their kickoff project to establish their workforce and other business systems before moving on to the adjacent properties.
"We've invested about $80 million so far, and a lot more still to go," said Lodder.
