Artemis Gold has announced approval of an expanded development for its Blackwater Mine in central B.C., which will see a second processing plant in full operation by the end of 2028.
In a Dec. 15, 2025, press release, the company said the expansion for the open-pit, gold and silver mine was approved by its board, and planning activities are already well-advanced.
Expected to cost the company $1.44 billion, the development will bring the mine’s processing capacity up to 21 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) once it is in full operation. At that point, the Blackwater Mine is expected to produce between 500,000 and 525,000 ounces of gold in its first 10 years of operation.
Artemis Gold is also currently working on an expansion of the mine’s first plant, announced in Sept. 2025 and expected to be completed by the end of 2026. The capital cost of this first expansion is estimated to be $110 million.
Together, both expansions will bring the mine’s total processing capacity to six Mtpa, higher than its 2024 expansion study indicated. However, the press release stated the second expansion is based on the confirmed and expected mineral reserves identified in the 2024 study. The current price of gold, along with the mine’s first expansion are what the company said allowed it to optimize this second phase at a larger scale.
A third expansion — primarily focused on optimization of existing operations — is planned to bring its total capacity up to 25 Mtpa, though Artemis Gold said there could be potential for even greater capacity and longer life span for the mine. The company plans to evaluate this in 2026 and has plans for further exploration of its Blackwater Mine land holding over the next five to 10 years. At this time, the mine is expected to operate until 2043.
“EP2 (the second expansion) will expand the Blackwater Mine to be one of the largest gold mines in Canada and will generate significant economic and other community benefits for many years to come,” said Dale Andres, CEO of Artemis Gold. “We look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with our Indigenous partners, local communities and the provincial and federal governments to responsibly develop the Blackwater Mine.”
With designs and plans completed in December 2025, work on the second expansion will begin as early as January 2026, with the installation of a construction camp and geotechnical investigations and procurement work getting underway. Major work on the expansion will take approximately two years to complete and is expected to begin in the third quarter of 2026. Artemis Gold said construction activities are not expected to cause significant disruptions to existing mine operations.
Details of what will be featured in the second expansion are included in the press release. The company said this expansion will not change the scope or design of the facility’s tailings storage facility and water management infrastructure, which the mine also has plans for, including raising the elevation of its tailings dam. However, the company said detailed plans could change with further investigations.
Artemis Gold has yet to receive a Provincial Mine’s Act permit, which aligns with the limitations on its Provincial Environmental Assessment Certificates, which allow for up to 21.9 Mtpa or 60,000 tonnes per day. It expects to receive this in 2026, along with additional construction permits. It also awaits formal confirmation from BC Hydro of sufficient hydropower supply for the second phase, a condition to the company’s investment in the expansion.
The mine also plans to seek higher limitations on its permits in the future.
Artemis Gold said that with the expansions, Blackwater Mine will become one of the lowest-cost, highest-margin gold operations in the world, anticipating a 75 per cent margin on revenue according to current gold prices.
Blackwater Mine is about 550 kilometres north of Vancouver and 160 kilometres southwest of Prince George. At the moment, 900 contractors and employees work for the mine. The construction of the second expansion is expected to create 1,500 direct jobs, and at its completion, the mine will have about 1,200 total direct employees and contractors.
In 2025, mining rates were approximately 40 Mtpa, but are expected to reach 90-95 Mtpa at peak operations.
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