From Goldfields to Greenfields: The Legacy of the Hollinger Gold Mine

The Hollinger Gold Mine was one of the richest producing mines in the western
hemisphere and operated between 1910 and 1968 as an underground operation within
the City of Timmins. With the closure of the mine in 1968, numerous mine hazards
began to plague the property and were public and safety liabilities located within the
City of Timmins, particularly the urban area. In 2007, Goldcorp's Porcupine Gold Mines
began to investigate the revitalization of the former Hollinger Gold Mine through the
open pit mining process. The question arose of how to develop a best management
approach for this resource development using economic development and land use
planning principles, for an industry that is located within an urban area of a major City
located within Northern Ontario.
This paper will explore the best management approach that was developed to bring this
project to fruition. The first section will provide a background and overview of the
project. The second section will focus on the process and detail used in the best
management approach and plan in terms of economic development and land use
planning to permit a traditional resource based “mining” activity to develop within the
context of an urban setting. The third section will explore how the land use planning
process can be used as an economic development tool to guide the transformation of a
historical mining liability into productive public lands that will celebrate the legacy of
mining within the City of Timmins. The fourth section concentrates on the lessons
learned as part of the development of this best practice approach and plan.