Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 20, 2006, Winnipeg, Manitoba Mine superintendent Richard Mcpherson with an Ore car on the rails. Continued from Page b1 they were right. Gold prices have surged we know just As we know she a returned to Ever since breaking $700 us an ounce earlier her Hometown for the summer to work in the this year the highest level in a Quarter cent hotel and write her columns by. Now san Gold a mine Purchase looks like Gold exploration drilling is even taking the biggest heist since Ken Leishman pilfered place in some Peoples front Yards. The next $4 million in Gold bars in 1966 from the win mine is expected to be right under the town. Nipes International Airport. The ramp to enter the mine is expected to and Gold a future looks pretty Rosy. The Start just behind the local baseball Diamond. Reason is the industrialization of China and boosting the Economy in Bissett 260 kilo India which is a major Gold buyer As jewelry metres Northeast of Winnipeg also helped is driving up All Metal prices. As Well euro Hugh and wife Madelaine persuade All five of Pean Central Banks have stopped Selling off their sons and two daughters to move Back to Gold reserves. Bissett. That a in a town with a population this company is like a rocket in the boost somewhere around 200 people. Only one son or stage maintained Rick Boulay san Gold works with the mine while the rest run dads chief financial officer. Diamond drilling company. Its called that at age 74, Wynne stopped doing this for the because Drill bits Are made from Industrial Money a Long time ago. If i was in it for the diamonds to Cut through Granite and volcanic Money i would have quit when i was 60. I a Rock having fun he said. You can to swing a dead cat around Here while his name sounds like you win its without hitting at least two of us said eldest really a win win for the entire Region. San son Ross Wynne. Gold has hired 200 staff so far mostly local its a great time for his father said Ross. People because that a the Way Wynne wanted its his dream to own the mine. It was his it. That Bucks a Long standing trend among fathers dream before that he said. Mining companies to import mostly expert Wynnes roots run deep in Bissett. His ended miners. It Means virtually All san father Charlie was on a Stopover in Winnipeg Gold a $1-million-per-month payroll stays in on his Way to blast Rock for a Railroad on the Manitoba. West coast when he saw a notice about Gold among new staff Are about 120 aboriginal exploration jobs in the Bissett Region. That people Many whom were unemployed from was 1912. He decided to give it a try. Nearby hollow water Little Black River and he never left Bissett even though his Sage eng first nations and a tis commune employer left town without paying Charlie a ties Seymo Urville and Manigotagan. Dime. Charlie spent his lifetime in mining and ? Wynne has Given us an Opportunity said prospecting the Region. Hugh followed in his underground Miner Clarence Bird from Little path but left when the mine closed. He went Black River first nation. To work As an underground Miner in mines mine employees seem stoked. The free from Labrador to British Columbia. Press was Given free rein to interview staff in 1972, father and son staked the mud without a management chaperone present. Patch Northeast of Bissett that now has a 400??i love it. I really love it. I be wanted to be a foot deep mine below it. Miner since i was 13,? said Jacob Tucker 24, from Roblin. The Money a Nice h ugh left mining and settled in win Tucker was encountered at 400 feet below Nipes in 1980 to take a Job in retail ground level directly below where Wynne sales. But in order to keep his stood and predicted he would find Gold one staked land in Bissett leased from Day. Its a sort of drive in mine where you Are the province he had to do exploration work. Transported by a slow grinding mining truck so he continued to explore the property on Down a Rocky spiral Road like in a Parade. Weekends. He eventually quit retail and Start except when you see the Light from the de the Diamond Drill business. Tunnel Entrance vanish behind you you Wynne has also taken Over several local know its not a Parade. Businesses just to keep the town going when Tucker is employed As a the mine was closed. He owns Wynnes place Drift Miner which Means the local store and restaurant we be never helping prepare areas that made any Money on it in 20 years but it pro Are to be blasted. His dad has Vides jobs for my family and service for the been a Miner since he was 17, area Wynne said and last year he bought and is currently mining Gold in the local hotel when it came up for Sale. From an investor standpoint san Gold a Laura Lindback works above ground Stock Price is cheap at about $1.50 on the tax As a hoist operator. She is one of about venture Exchange but fairly diluted at 115 20 women hired by san Gold including a million shares. Female welder who works Over a mile under among its very Strong positives is that it owns a $200-million Gold mine and Mill yet Lindback a Job is described As a hoist has no debt. It has benefited hugely from pre Man in the mining manuals but san Gold Vious owners like Rea Gold 1989-97which changed that. From a special room she oper Sank $85 million into mine upgrades and ates the elevator that carries the men Harmony which put in another $33 million. Machinery and explosives Down the mile its Gold Deposit grades just 0.25 ounces of deep Shaft mine the original Bissett mine. Gold per tonne about average the company elevators in mines Arent like elevators in says. But the Deposit is on the same Green department stores. Lindback controls it with Stone Belt As Canadas Best Gold producing a kind of Joystick slowly easing the elevator site at red Lake ont., less than 100 kilo me to a Stop at various Levels. It takes about four tres away. Red Lake gets a Sublime Grade of minutes to travel a mile. 2.5 ounces per tonne. Lindback 27, is a City girl who spent eight to put a 0.25-ounce Grade of Gold into per years in retail most recently As a store Man spec Tive that san amount of Gold barely Visi Ager in Winnipeg. I wanted a Job change ble to the Eye extracted from a Boulder of she explained. Retail is just go go go and Rock the size of a 42-Inch screen television. Here everybody gets along and its so much san Gold does to think its found All the Gold fun at work. I love coming to yet. That a Why it spent $6 million in expo and she loves Bissett. I Man outdoors per ration last year placing it among the top son she said. She a lived in a Small Shack of three in the province led by Inco in Thomp a House without indoor plumbing for a year. Son. It already has proven up to 12 More friends Are helping install plumbing Howe years of Gold production and the company or. Estimates it will double that based on Early with such an influx of people although the exploration results. Majority still commute from surrounding about 30 per cent of the non unionized communities romances have sprouted. Two workforce owns Stock in the company and boyfriends Are reported to be building Addi managers Are putting together a Stock Pur tons to their girlfriends Homes. The local Chase plan for employees. Joke is that beaus Don to bring roses in Bissett san Gold has its environmental controls they bring lumber. Comedian Steve Smiths and government permits. Its tailings Pond red Green character would be so proud North of town has ducks and minnows local Pride is up too. That a Why mondays because the concentration of cyanide used in free press is the most popular edition of the the Gold milling process is so Low by the time photography by week said mine superintendent Richard it enters the Pond. Cyanide Breaks Down Inken Gigliotti Mcpherson. That a when Colleen a Simard sunlight. Column is in the newspaper. She a from Here Winnipeg free press to put a 0.25-ounce Grade of Gold into perspective that san amount of Gold barely visible to the Eye extracted from a Boulder of Rock the size of a 42-Inch screen television. this company is like a rocket in the Booster stage Rick Boulay san Gold chief financial officer a drilling operation at the mines 400-foot level. San Gold president Dale Ginn left and mine superintendent Richard Mcpherson Check out a Refuge station an area where miners can find safety in Case of an Accident. Miners coming off an arduous shift at the 4,000-foot level. Local workers mine a steady pay Cheque including other mine owners then Don to live up excuses and stereotypes will be trotted out i.e., or triple it in some cases. That can work out to employee but there Are others who want the by Bill Redekop to their promises. Many first nations people aboriginal men Arent reliable workers because $60,000 to $100,000 a year the company says. Jobs. The company has 2,000 resum son file. Claim another Large employer in the area pulp Many have Only worked seasonally before other jobs have different pay Scales. For exam anywhere from five to 15 employees have and paper maker Tembeck in Pine Falls does to they be been on welfare too Long its not part of ple an underground truck Driver is paid $25 an b been terminated due to absenteeism depending Issett ? what san Indian boy going hire enough aboriginal people. Their culture. Hour. On who you talk to. To do with All the Money he a making not san Gold. It has spent Over $5 million to swampy 35, was doing not a hell of a lot i hear the mine could operate 14 to 16 years. Its actually been a lot better than what i hollers Dwayne swampy minutes create a training program to take people off the before san Gold opened he said. This is an that a Good enough for me. I a 48,? said new thought it would be especially when you re Hir before a Man arrives with pay cheques Dole and turn them into miners with no govern excellent Opportunity. I love working Here. Employee Brian Guimond who was a Security ing and training As Many people As we Are for the miners. Ment Grants involved. There Are Good Guys to work with guard in Sage eng first nation until the said Dale Ginn san Gold president. Some peo everybody smiles As if they re used to the training process has also set Back Gold still mining is a hard kind of labour to quote Reserve went into third party management and ple have just left because mining in to for them. Swampy a outbursts. Then the cheques arrive production by nearly half a year compared to if a traditional mining song. Miners work 14 Days Guimond was Laid off. He also worked in the we be probably retained 75-80 per cent of the and workers Mill about ripping open envelopes the company had just gone out and hired exp on and get seven Days off. They alternate Day mines in flin flon in the Early 1980s. His son people we started training. I thought it would and zoning into their own worlds As they digest Rien ced personnel from elsewhere like other and night shifts. Workdays Are 10 hours Long. Kevin works at san Gold too driving the Little be More like 50 per cent Ginn said. The numbers. Mine owners have. But san Gold says its also swampy commutes an hour and a half train that hauls away Ore. Hugh Wynne san Gold chairman says Absen a steady pay Cheque. Its been a Long time approach will pay off in the Long run by creat to work from Sage eng with Brothers Dennis san Gold originally planned a three strikes theism in to an Issue. At one Point Wynne coming for Many of these people. San Gold ing a local labour Pool. And Howie. Aboriginal workers Here commute and you re out absenteeism policy. A worker leaned in closely As if he was about to say corp. Has hired about 120 of its 200 staff from but there Are rumblings that absenteeism is a anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes one Way. Com was supposed to be terminated the third time something in Confidence like you can to print nearby first nations and a tis communities problem at the mine. One Miner called the Muters interviewed said it in to a problem. He or she failed to Call in sick or did to produce this or this is off the Many of them plucked right off the welfare absenteeism atrocious a charge the company they also receive a travel allowance of Over a doctors note. That a not what he said. I be watched some Rolls. Perhaps no other company in recent Histo vigorously denies. $700 per month. However More housing is san Gold decided to add a fourth strike to its of these Guys work with the Melitac team a by has pinned so much on aboriginal workers. Swampy from Sage eng first nation who needed in Bissett. Policy. The first time you get a warning the special firefighting Force that uses helicopters its an unorthodox move by san Gold which has been with san Gold for six months under the wages Are excellent especially for Rural second time you re suspended three Days with and is based in Bissett he said. I be seen owns the Gold mines in Bissett 260 Kilometres stands the implications for first nations peo Manitoba. Trainees Start at $15 an hour. A out pay and the third time you re suspended 14 some of them working there for 20 years. I ;