Key construction at new Lynn Lake gold mine begins after fire-driven delay

Last summer’s wildfire season has delayed development of Manitoba’s new gold mine by nearly a year.

Construction on key infrastructure is just beginning, according to the project director for Alamos Gold, the company behind the Lynn Lake mine.

It broke ground last year with intentions to ramp up construction. Once operational, the plant could produce 186,000 ounces of gold annually. It’s located some 1,000 kilometres north of Winnipeg.

“The construction season of 2026 is going to be a very hectic and busy one for us,” Christopher Whorton, Alamos Gold project manager, told the Free Press.

He’d trekked to the Manitoba Legislative Building for a mining conference on Monday. He planned to fly to Lynn Lake on Tuesday for a wildfire preparedness exercise with the Canadian Red Cross and the province’s wildfire service.

Once on site, he’ll likely see work unfolding on a new road network.

Roads, water capture systems, a starter pit for an open pit mine and workers’ camp are on the construction books. Many items, including the camp, should’ve been built last summer, Whorton said.

Blazes emerged nearby starting in May 2025.

Provincial investigators alleged Alamos Gold didn’t properly extinguish its burn piles, leading to a May fire that eventually grew beyond 210,000 acres, CBC reported last year.

Alamos Gold has disputed this; Whorton didn’t speak to the case Monday. The province couldn’t provide an update, a spokesperson said Monday.

A separate fire led Lynn Lake residents to evacuate in July 2025. They began returning home in September.

Fires were generally to the north and south of the future gold mine, Whorton said.

His construction completion timeline has now been pushed to April 2029, about a year later than previously planned.

Crews began work late last fall. However, much was put off until the spring thaw, Whorton said.

He wouldn’t share how much construction costs amount to this year; the overall project cost is $1.2 billion.

Alamos Gold had committed to spend between $143 million and $171 million on construction in 2025.

The incoming workers’ camp will house 600 people and include all the amenities of a typical northern camp, such as a gymnasium, Whorton said. He estimated roughly 30 km of roads would be created.

Tuesday’s exercise with the Red Cross should help with preparing contingency measures in case of future fires, Whorton said.

“Fires start through lots and lots of reasons — lightning strikes,” Whorton said. “We are taking lots of precautions around the site to make sure that we … are not the source.”

Alamos is flying drones above the area weekly, he added.

Delays due to natural disasters are common among Manitoba mining and prospecting firms, said Terry Brown, board chair of the Manitoba Prospectors and Developers Association.

“Flooding delays projects,” said the Peguis First Nation member, whose home reserve regularly faces flooding. “Forest fires in our region also create that uncertainty.”

Brown pointed to new investments from the provincial government, including firebreaks, as potential prevention methods.

The province’s 2026 budget includes $1.2 million for 19 new firefighters, $1 million for 15 more emergency management organization staff, and $1.2 million to upgrade Manitoba Wildfire Services’s fire mapping systems.

Alamos Gold has operational gold mines in Ontario and Sonora, Mexico. It announced its Lynn Lake plans in 2023.

That year, it signed an impact benefit agreement with Marcel Colomb First Nation, the first of its kind between a mining company and a First Nation in Manitoba.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com