Yukon mine buys 2 $6.5M hydraulic shovels named Beauty and the Beast

Victoria Gold Corporation's president John McConnell says it has by far the largest hydraulic shovels in the Yukon.

McConnell says the new equipment can move 60,000 tonnes of rock each day. The two Caterpillar 6040 shovels, built in Dortmund, Germany, will be used at the Eagle Gold mine site located about 80 kilometres north of Mayo, Yukon.

"These will be the primary shovels in the open pit, So we drill and blast ore and waste, and they will be what loads the 185-tonne trucks", says McConnell.

"I mean they came across by sea from Germany to Halifax. Then they were loaded on trucks and trucked up to Edmonton and then up to Whitehorse and on to Eagle," McConnell says.

McConnell says the hydraulic shovels were taken apart and shipped in 30 tractor-trailer loads across Canada.

McConnell says fully assembled each shovel's tracks are more than a metre wide.

He adds each has a 7,500 litre fuel tank. Both have over 2,000 horsepower and can move 30 cubic yards of material  with each bucket load.

McConnell says moving that much earth needs ore trucks that can handle the volume of material.

He says 11 785 Caterpillar haul trucks are being shipped from the U.S. to the mine site. The first one should arrive on tractor trailers next week.

McConnell says it has been a busy summer.

"You know I think we have just over 300 people, men and women workers, at camp now, spending $1.1 million a day, significant expenditure and we are getting a lot of work done."

The lifespan of the new gold mine is expected to be 10 to 20 years. The company says it expects to have its first pour of gold in the second half of 2019.