GOLDBORO – NexGold Mining Corp. has begun early construction work at its Goldboro Gold Project while considerably sharpening the timetable for its final call on moving the proposed mine into full-scale construction.
The company confirmed in a Sept. 17 news release that its board expects to make the final decision in the last three months of this year. In an email to The Journal last week, president and CEO Kevin Bullock put the deadline at “end of year… We require an updated FS [feasibility study], financing finalized [among] other things.”
If the board gives the project the go-ahead, NexGold is targeting the first three months of 2027 to begin construction.
All of which makes for a much tighter timetable than NexGold was offering only 10 days ago. In a Sept. 14 announcement on Goldboro’s inclusion in the Canada Investment Summit prospectus, the company said only that it was “evaluating a potential construction decision” sometime in 2026.
Asked whether a community notice circulated by NexGold announcing construction activity meant the company had made its decision, or whether it was starting early site work before the formality, Bullock told The Journal: “the latter.”
According to the Sept. 17 release, the early works will include “construction of elements of a public-access bypass road such as installation of culverts at water crossings; installation of critical sediment and erosion control infrastructure; tree clearing for the Employee Accommodations Facility pad, till and organics stockpiles, sedimentation ponds and the construction management facilities area; and mobilization of site services contractors to support site construction.”
The Mi’kma’ki-Municipal Limited Partnership — the majority Indigenous-owned partnership between Municipal Enterprises Limited and Nova Scotia’s 13 Mi’kmaw First Nations, represented by Wskijnu’k Mtmo’taqnuow Agency Limited — will carry out the work.
In parallel, NexGold will finish the updated feasibility study that will form part of the business case going to the board. The current Goldboro study estimates about 26 months for construction and commissioning, followed by an 11-year open-pit mine life producing about 100,000 ounces of gold a year on average.
The proposed mine has been moving through the regulatory and planning process for several years. Last November, NexGold secured its final key federal approvals under the Fisheries Act, following provincial industrial approvals earlier in 2025.
The company has also secured a Crown land lease covering the proposed mine site and associated infrastructure, and signed community benefits agreements with both the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw Chiefs and the Municipality of the District of Guysborough.
NexGold, formerly Treasury Metals, acquired Signal Gold in December 2024, bringing the Goldboro project into its portfolio. Signal Gold had acquired the property in 2017, when it was still known as Anaconda Mining, and had been advancing it since.
Provincial estimates put the project at roughly $250 million and say it could contribute about $2.1 billion to Nova Scotia’s economy over its projected lifespan, including construction, operations and remediation.
Once greenlit, the new mine could generate more than 300 construction jobs, more than 200 full-time operating positions and over 500 annual spinoff jobs during its lifetime.
