The Kemess Mine was an

open-pit Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique that extracts rock (geology), rock or minerals from the earth. Open-pit mines are used when deposits of commercially ...

copper and gold mine, located just northeast of the foot of

Thutade Lake Thutade Lake is a natural alpine lake in the Omineca Mountains of the Northern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. About in length, but no more than about wide, the lake is at the head of the Finlay River, which joins the Peace River via Willi ...

, at the head of the

Finlay River The Finlay River is a 402 km long river in north-central British Columbia flowing north and thence south from Thutade Lake in the Omineca Mountains to Williston Lake, the impounded waters of the Peace River formed by the completion of the W ...

, in the

Omineca Mountains The Omineca Mountains, also known as "the Ominecas", are a group of remote mountain ranges in the Boreal Cordillera of north-central British Columbia, Canada. They are bounded by the Finlay River on the north, the Rocky Mountain Trench (here fil ...

of the

Northern Interior of British Columbia Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. It was operated by Royal Oak Mines from 1998 to 1999, when it was bought by Northgate Minerals. Northgate operated the mine until its closure in 2011; that year Northgate was taken over by AuRico Gold. In 2014 AuRico Gold partitioned off its portion of Kemess Mine ownership creating a new company called AuRico Metals. AuRico Metals was acquired by Centerra Gold in January 2018. The deposit mined was a copper-gold porphyry. Over its life the mine produced approximately 3 million ounces of gold and 800 million pounds of coppe

The mine is serviced by Kemess Creek Airport and the Omineca Resource Road from Prince George. Air distance from

Smithers Smithers is a surname of English origin. It derives from the Middle English term "smyther", referring to a metalsmith, and is thus related to the common occupational surname Smith. The name Smither is related. People * Alan Smithers (born 1938) ...

is 280 km, approximately due north; road distance from Prince George is approximately 550 km. Near the mine is the Kemess Underground Project, also owned by Centerra Gold. This separate deposit is currently in the development stage, and has not been approved for production.

External links

Kemess Mine official website, snapshot from the Internet ArchiveBC Government MINFILE reportKemess Underground Project websiteCenterra Gold Kemess
Gold mines in British Columbia Copper mines in British Columbia Surface mines in Canada Omineca Mountains Northern Interior of British Columbia {{BritishColumbiaInterior-geo-stub