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“We see a bright future there. That’s why we’re putting our money where our mouth is,” said John DeCooman, vice president of business development for the Vancouver-based company, which was until this year called Silver Standard Resources Inc.

DeCooman said the company is now taking its first steps along the “path to a bigger-scale operation” it saw at the time. That means finding more proven gold reserves which can be economically extracted and increasing “throughput” at the mill.

An independent technical report commissioned by the company and released last week cautioned that while its assessment is preliminary and may not be realized, further exploration and engineering work at the site is warranted.

DeCooman said that while the company’s expansion plans — which are not expected to create a significant number of new jobs — could be affected by fluctuations in the price of gold, it doesn’t foresee any issues.

Despite never having a long life expectation, the Seabee operation has been “slugging it out” since it entered production in 1992 and is today a “long-term success story” for the province’s mining industry, Schwann said.

Former Claude Resources CEO Brian Skanderbeg has attributed its success before the takeover to the newer Santoy mine, which he said means “essentially you get twice the amount of gold,” as well as favourable prices and exchange rates.

Schwann said the company’s plan to continue investing in the operation — which includes $15 million earmarked for exploration — could have effects beyond the direct and indirect economic benefits created by an operating mine.

“I think it might also signal to some of the other gold producers out there or gold exploration companies that Saskatchewan is a place where you can profitably have a gold mining operation.”

amacpherson@postmedia.com

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