Granada Mine History

Rouyn-Noranda has an incredibly rich mining history which started in the 1920’s with Edmund Horne’s discovery of an enormous copper and gold deposit on the edge of Lake Osisko (this deposit became the Horne Mine which launched one of Canada’s great companies, Noranda). The discovery confirmed that the geological fault associated with the rich gold mines of Ontario extended deep into the Abitibi region. Hundreds of prospectors from all across North America rushed to the Rouyn area. In just a few years, 15 other deposits were discovered including Granada.

The former Granada Mine was originally staked in 1922. Following extensive prospecting, Granada was brought into production in 1930 utilizing a vertical and an incline shaft. Five veins (#5, #1, #3, #2A and #2 from north to south) were identified at the time of the mine’s commissioning. The vertical shaft collared on the discovery outcrop accessed Vein #1 while the incline shaft accessed the workings on Vein #2. A mill with a capacity of 181 tonnes per day processed 51,476 ounces from 181,744 tonnes of ore averaging 9.7 g/t Au and 1.5 g/t Ag up until a fire destroyed the surface structures in 1935.

Limited work was done at Granada following the 1935 fire until the late 1980’s when Kewagama Gold (KWG) launched a series of exploration programs which continued until the mid-1990’s. KWG was after high grade quartz veins and drilled several hundred shallow holes, mainly around Veins #1 and #2. In 1993 they also completed detailed ground geophysics and geological mapping over the Granada Eastern Extension. KWG got very encouraging results in its drilling and other exploration work but plunging gold prices put a halt to their activities at Granada.

In August, 1998, KWG sold the Granada Mine property to Mousseau Tremblay Inc. due to financial insolvency. The last activity at Granada, prior to Granada Gold Mine acquiring the property from Mousseau Tremblay Inc. in 2006, was the mining of approximately 2,200 ounces of gold from Vein #2 in 2000.