'No timeline': Premier Gold delay upsets Geraldton homeowners

More than 35 homeowners, in the Geraldton area in northwestern Ontario, are waiting to hear if, and when, Premier Gold might buy their property so it can create an open pit mine.

• Geraldton homeowners await word on new Premier Gold mine

Terri Horan said feels like a hostage.

"There's no timeline. That's been basically put on hold for now and has put our lives on hold as a result," Horan said. "We're not able to move forward to the next stage past Premier Gold's influence and we're not able to go back to before it happened." 

"We can't make plans. We can't do renovations," she added. "We can't do all the things a normal situation would afford us to do, because we're waiting. We don't want to be gone for two weeks because if they call, we want to be available."

Horan said she's also irritated by the constant drilling that has been happening for the past 6 weeks.

"When they hit bedrock, the glasses in the house shake, things vibrate and it's a constant noise," she said. "And we moved out here to get away from the noise."

Long process

The director of Environment, Aboriginal and Community Affairs for Premier Gold Mines, Amiel Blajchman said he appreciates the frustration of homeowners.

But Blajchman said opening a mine can take a long time.

"We need the go-ahead from our board of directors and part of that is related to the feasibility study, which we're working on, and part of that is the environmental assessment process, and the permitting."

Blajchman said fluctuations in the price of gold are also slowing down the entire process. But he said the company still plans to move forward.

"Our intent is to develop this project and to build a mine," he said. "We've brought on a team that have operation experience, that have development experience."

Blajchman said if people have concerns they should go to the company's community relations office in downtown Geraldton, or they can visit the operations office in the McLeod town site.

He said the company has tried to address individual concerns about noise.

Blajchman could not offer a specific time that the company might start negotiating the purchase of the homes. He said it would be on a house-by-house basis.