GOLDBORO — NexGold Ltd. has secured a 779-hectare Crown land lease for its proposed open-pit gold mine in Goldboro, bringing the company one step closer to construction.
“We are extremely pleased to be receiving our Crown land lease and licence for the Goldboro project, and are very proud of the hard work and diligence required to achieve this,” Kevin Bullock, president and CEO of NexGold, said in a May 21 provincial news release. “The lease includes a land package that covers both the deposit and critical infrastructure for mine development, allowing final permitting to progress.”
The lease area includes land previously mined for gold and will enable NexGold to build processing and tailings facilities, on-site waste rock storage and other essential infrastructure – subject to final approvals. The site has already received provincial environmental assessment approval and is awaiting additional federal and provincial regulatory signoffs.
In an email interview with The Journal following the announcement, Bullock called the lease “a significant step, as we have been working on this for some time. The lease is required in order to place the infrastructure for the mine on the land.”
He said NexGold has met all the conditions outlined in the letter of offer it received from the province last year. “Once all of the conditions of the letter of offer... were met, the minister made a recommendation to Cabinet to approve the lease and licence,” he said. “After approval, the official offer gets sent to the minister and then we both (N.S. government and NexG) sign the agreement.”
He said three more regulatory steps remain: “The remaining permits to receive are the Fisheries Act Authorization, the Schedule 2 Amendment (both federal and in the works, expected in third quarter) and then industrial approval, which is the permit to construct.”
He said NexGold hopes to make a final investment decision “by the end of the year.”
The milestone follows the company’s $10-million private placement in April to expedite permitting and development. “Because of the current climate, and supportive government and regulatory body, we have been able to progress much quicker than expected which generates spend at a faster rate,” Bullock said at the time. “All very positive for advancement of our Goldboro project.”
The company, formed from the 2024 merger of Signal Gold and NexGold Mining, aims to develop the site into a 15-year mine, with 11 years of operation and a multi-year remediation phase. According to the province, the project could create more than 700 jobs and add $2.1 billion to Nova Scotia’s economy over its lifetime.
Bullock has called Goldboro a “cornerstone asset” and said NexGold is “primed to move forward on our path to development.” The mine is expected to generate between 200 and 350 full-time jobs during construction and operations.
NexGold has signed community benefits agreements with both the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw Chiefs and the Municipality of the District of Guysborough (MODG).
At MODG council’s regular meeting on May 21, Warden Paul Long called the lease “a significant milestone” and said he hoped it would lead to “some boots on the ground for jobs in the closer future than may have been forecasted before.”
Long quoted Bullock’s remarks from the provincial news release and said they reflected a strong working relationship between the company and the province. The mine footprint spans both Crown and private lands.
According to the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables, the mining industry supports at least 2,500 jobs in Nova Scotia, with average wages and benefits exceeding $100,000 a year.
Bullock said the company remains focused on completing the permitting process. “It has been a multi-year process to get to this point,” he said. “This is a very positive sign for Nova Scotia and NexGold’s Goldboro project.”
