Yukon's Eagle Gold mine site gets energized

Yukon's newest mine project has reached a milestone — it's now connected to the territory's electrical grid.

Yukon Energy flipped the switch to Victoria Gold's Eagle Gold project, near Mayo, late last week. The mine is expected to open later this year.

John McConnell, president of Victoria Gold, says it's win-win for his company and Yukon Energy.  

"You know with the Minto Mine shutting down, they had no commercial customers any longer — so this is a big deal for Yukon Energy as well," he said.

Yukon Energy says power sales to Victoria Gold are estimated to bring in $100 million in revenues or more, over the expected life of the mine.

Andrew Hall, president of Yukon Energy, says that could benefit other customers.

"Power prices are going to go up with inflation and as we build more assets. What the Victoria Gold sales means for us is maybe that increase won't be as high as it normally would be," said Hall.

Victoria Gold covered the full cost of connecting its mine site to the main power grid. McConnell says the site also has a  large diesel generator, and its own substation.

"We built our own power plant on site, it's just under five megawatts of capacity," he said.

He says the total cost of the power plant infrastructure at the Eagle project was $10.5 million. It will be used as emergency backup, in case of a Yukon Energy power failure.

Construction of the mine is about 90 per cent complete, and there are now more than 400 workers on site, according to McConnell. 

He expects to pour some of the first gold bars from the Eagle site this summer.