The Sleeping Giant Awakens: Abcourt Mines' High-Grade Gold and the Future of Narrow-Vein Mining

In today’s episode, we're joined by Pascal Hamelin, President and CEO of Abcourt Mines, a Canadian gold producer and explorer with a strong footprint in Quebec. We’ll be discussing Abcourt’s flagship Sleeping Giant Mine, the company’s focus on narrow vein underground mining, and how innovation, automation, and community engagement are shaping its next phase of growth. Pascal is also going to be attending the upcoming Resourcing Tomorrow event - the premier gathering for the world’s mining leaders taking place in London from 2-4 December. What sets this event apart is its unmatched audience: C-level executives from the biggest mining companies worldwide, over 40 government ministers, leading mining technology providers, and more. Dig Deep The Mining Podcast is proud to partner with Resourcing Tomorrow so to register, go to https://hubs.ly/Q03JvH2K0 and use DIGDEEP10 for 10% off your pass. KEY TAKEAWAYS The company, originally focused on zinc, shifted to gold assets in Northern Quebec in the mid-2000s, leveraging its ownership of the Elder Mine and eventually acquiring the high-grade Sleeping Giant Mine and Mill in 2016. Abcourt secured financing in mid-2025 to restart the Sleeping Giant Mine, which boasts historically high-grade, narrow-vein underground gold (averaging 10.3 grams/tonne G/T) The company champions narrow-vein underground mining to minimise waste and surface disruption, a model with higher social acceptability Abcourt sees significant deep exploration potential at Sleeping Giant, believing the high-grade deposit extends to greater depths where "no one drilled yet" BEST MOMENTS "The main focus and why I came in was to actually start the Sleeping Giant Mine." "The issue we have with mining that narrow is the equipment is not there... I believe that the advancement of technology right now is going at full speed." "The belief is there's a giant at depth. And no one drilled at depth yet... So we're just scratching the surface on that deposit." "If you have an underground narrow-vein mine with 200 employees, 300 employees, with a 20, 30-year life – that's what people like." VALUABLE RESOURCES Mail:        ⁠[email protected]⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-tyson-3a26a68/⁠ X:              ⁠https://twitter.com/MiningRobTyson⁠  YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/c/DigDeepTheMiningPodcast⁠  Web:        ⁠http://www.mining-international.org⁠ CONTACT METHOD ⁠[email protected]⁠ ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-tyson-3a26a68/⁠ Podcast Description Rob Tyson is an established recruiter in the mining and quarrying sector and decided to produce the “Dig Deep” The Mining Podcast to provide valuable and informative content around the mining industry. He has a passion and desire to promote the industry and the podcast aims to offer the mining community an insight into people’s experiences and careers covering any mining discipline, giving the listeners helpful advice and guidance on industry topics.  This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/