COVER STORY
INSIDE A GOLD MINE AND UNDER THE OCEAN
Mining an endless ocean of opportunities by Mina Atia
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ova Scotia is home to a growing population, an increasingly diverse culture, boasts some of the world’s best beaches and lobster, and to support all of this, a rich resource economy. Operating inland in Nova Scotia for over 15 years, Atlantic Gold was acquired by St Barbara Ltd in 2019. The Australian based company was founded in 1969 and is a gold producer and explorer. Through its acquisition, the company made an investment worth $722 million in Canada and in the province’s mining industry. “We believe that Nova Scotia has great promise as a viable, attractive place to do business both in the country and in North America,” says Craig Jetson, St Barbara CEO. “We are a growing gold company with a global outlook. Every day we live by our company commitments to safety, empowering people and diverse teams, building stronger communities, respecting the environment and growing sustainably.” Two of St Barbara’s commitments are respecting the environment and growing sustainably. “We take those commitments very seriously and our staff makes every effort to effectively manage our operations to ensure we have as little impact on our surrounding environment as possible,” says Jetson. “In the rare instance that we do have an impact, we work with regulators and the community to ensure any impacts are addressed and remediated.”
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The mining industry is at a very interesting point in the world, in the country and in the Province of Nova Scotia. “It is clear that our industry needs to make a greater effort to reduce our overall carbon footprint and play a part in lower CO2 emissions,” says Jetson. “For St Barbara’s part, we have made a company-wide commitment to being carbon neutral by 2050, however, our Atlantic Operations will lead the way with a much earlier target.” Gold mining as an industry creates heated discussions from those concerned about the surrounding environment. “I appreciate those who have questions and concerns that can be addressed and answered by studying impacts and providing qualified scientific data,” says Jetson. “The Province of Nova Scotia and Canada must grow and develop. Resource extraction, completed with the greatest respect for protecting the environment, will play a role in successfully developing Nova Scotia’s rural economy.” Building stronger communities is another commitment of St Barbara’s, and the team lives by it every day–– more so after the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic became clearer. “We focus our work in the communities around our current and proposed operations in three areas: poverty prevention, improving the health of local residents, especially seniors, and bettering educational outcomes of the youngest members of our communities,” says Jetson.
BUSINESS VOICE
