The company that owns the New Afton Mine just west of Kamloops has announced plans to extend the mine’s life until the first quarter of 2030.

New Gold Manager of Environment, Lands and Permitting Scott Davidson says production at the C-zone, which will come online in 2024, will now allow the mine to stay operating for at least six more years.

The company is spending $460 million to develop C-zone.

The mine itself opened in 2012 and was first expected to close in 2024.

“If we look at our last technical report that was put out in 2015, we spoke in that one about some of the studies that were initiated on C-Zone. So we’ve been working on this and looking at this very closely, probably going back about six or seven years now.”

He says there’s also potential to expand the mine and extend its life further, as Newgold is planning to do exploratory drilling where it has found “significant” near-surface gold within three kilometres to the west of the mine.

“Obviously the expansion is something that we’re working towards. There’s still permitting that has to be done around that, but we are starting to advance our permitting. Really want to deliver on that, and continue on a lot of the solid benefits that we think we bring to the local community and economy.”

Davidson says the mine employs about 500 people and brings about $100 million per year into the local economy.

In the next 10 years, NewGold expects to mine more than 2.7 million ounces of gold equivalent at the New Afton Mine.