(Sarah Bridge & Ioanna Roumeliotis/ CBC News) — Even at the height of summer and amid a global pandemic, days start early at New Gold Inc.’s silver and gold mine in Rainy River, Ont.
As a precaution these days, there are fewer workers on any given shift, but shortly after sunrise a stream of cars and buses begins to arrive at the mine 65 kilometres northwest of Fort Frances. Nurses stand by to ask questions about COVID-19 symptoms and check the temperatures of those who haven’t been onsite for a few days. Signs remind crews to don PPE. As of early August, the mine hasn’t seen any COVID-19 cases.
New Gold wants to keep it that way.
The company is the first in Canada to try out a new test that can diagnose COVID-19 cases in as little as one hour, outside a lab setting.
Health Canada recently authorized Guelph-based Precision Biomonitoring to import and sell American company Biomeme Inc.’s SARS-CoV-2 Real-Time RT-PCR test. The goal is to create a COVID-free workplace, and New Gold CEO Renaud Adams is reaching for it. (…)