Gold in them thar hills: Canadian company to reopen Tintic area mine

Brice Wallace 

Having struck gold, Tintic Consolidated Metals LLC hopes to revive a long-dormant Trixie mine near Eureka.

The company, a subsidiary of Canada-based gold mining company Osisko Development Corp., will invest over $150 million over the next five years, including hiring more than 150 people, to rejuvenate the mine, about 60 miles south of Salt Lake City.

The Trixie mine was part of the Tintic Mining District, once one of the busiest mining districts for{mprestriction ids="1,3"} silver, lead and zinc. The district closed in 1978 and has been dormant since July 2019.

Osisko acquired Tintic Consolidated Metals Co. in May 2022 and during exploration “hit high-grade gold,” a company official told the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity (Go Utah) board before the board approved a rural economic development tax increment financing tax credit incentive of up to $9.6 million over five years.

“We are very pleased to have been awarded the REDTIF tax credit,” Sean Roosen, chairman and CEO of Osisko Development, said in a prepared statement. “The meaningful tax relief it offers is a great incentive to push forward with our big plans for the Tintic Project.

“Since acquiring Tintic in May last year, we have been continually impressed with the strong support that the state of Utah has shown for mining companies. Utah has established itself as a world-class jurisdiction by creating an efficient, transparent, predictable and informed mining regime that is highly favorable for exploration, development and operation. It is also home to a deep pool of mining talent, from professional miners, drillers, engineers, lawyers and accountants. It is no wonder why the state consistently ranks in the top five places to mine globally.”

David Sabourin, the company’s chief operating officer, told the Go Utah board that the company has more than 17,000 acres of patented claims in the area. Since it found the high-grade gold, it has upgraded the Trixie mine by installing mechanized mining. It has just over 100 people in the mine and in administration and processing, and the company hopes to get to 187 or more as it expands there. Trixie also is near other mines where the company hopes to expand operations.

“Right now, we’re very low tonnage, very high grade, but we’ll be increasing that through the construction of a mill over this next year to take us to [processing] 500 tons a day,” Sabourin said. “The plan is to go up to two-and-a-half-thousand tons a day and incorporate more mines into the fold of what we’re doing.”

TCM intends to sell all of its production to Asahi Refining USA Inc., based in Salt Lake City.

The company is working to build a skills base among people in that area, he added.

“It’s actually tough to get people with mining experience, so we’re putting a lot of effort into training them and the like. We have a good future. We want people join our company and also build our future,” Sabourin said.

He said that for every mining job, the indirect economic benefits include employment of five more people, including at local suppliers. “So, as the mine builds and the local processing facility builds, there’s a spinoff to the local economy for jobs. … We have a great future and this [state] tax assistance will be really helpful to ourselves as we grow the business,” he said.

New total wages associated with the project are estimated at over $70 million over five years, and new state tax revenue is estimated at over $19 million during that time. The new jobs are expected to pay an average of over $119,000.

“We are continually thrilled to see business expansion in rural Utah,” Ryan Starks, Go Utah’s executive director, said in a prepared statement. “The revival of Juab County’s historically successful mine will be able to connect the nostalgia of past generations with the promise of many high-quality jobs for future generations.”

“We are excited to hear of Tintic’s expansion in our state,” said Scott Cuthbertson, president and CEO of the Economic Development Corporation of Utah. “This project is a great win for rural Utah, bringing high-paying jobs and long-term positive impact to the local community.”

Go Utah does not provide upfront cash incentives. Each year that an incentivized company meets the obligations in its contract with the state, it will qualify to receive a portion of the new, additional state taxes the company paid to the state.{/mprestriction}