Cité de l'Or à Val-d'Or

Useful Information

Location:	90 Av. Perrault, Val-d'Or, Quebec J9P 2G3. Abitibi-Témiscamingue region of Quebec. (48.094356, -77.766324)
Open:	All year daily 9-17. Online booking mandatory. [2023]
Fee:	Adults CAD 45, Children (6-11) CAD 25, Students (12-24) CAD 37, Seniors (60+) CAD 37, Families (2+2) AUD 113. Short Tour: Adults CAD 32, Children (6-11) CAD 19, Students (12-24) CAD 27, Seniors (60+) CAD 27, Families (2+2) AUD 76. Bourlamaque's audioguide: Adults CAD 7, Children (6-11) CAD 3, Students (12-24) CAD 5, Seniors (60+) CAD 5, Families (2+2) AUD 18. [2023]
Classification:	Gold Mine
Light:	Incandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:	T=8 °C.
Guided tours:	VR=91 m, MinAge=6, MinHeight=1.09 m.
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Corporation du Village minier de Bourlamaque / La Cité de l'Or, 90 avenue Perrault (CP 212), Val-d'Or, Québec, Canada J9P 4P3, Tel: +1-819-825-1274, Free: 1-855-825-1274. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1923	gold deposit discovered.
1935	mine opened.
1985	mine cklosed.
1979	Bourlamaque declared a Patrimoine culturel du Québec (provincial historic site).
1995	show mine and mining museum opened to the public.
2012	Bourlamaque declared a National Historic Site.

Geology

Description

The La Cité de l’Or is a gold mining museum with an underground tour. The town is a historic mining village which is still occupied today. It was the place of the 1930s northwestern Québec gold rush and was one of the most productive gold mines in the country. The underground tour shows a passage of the former Lamaque Gold Mine at a depth of 91 m, the surrounding historic mining village Bourlamaque is a sort of open air museum.

It has an area of 22 ha and includes 82 residential and service buildings. Two long avenues oriented east-west and five perpendicular streets for an orthogonal grid. The single-family residences made of spruce logs were designed according to four standard plans. The small village Bourlamaque is a true mining city: it was planned in 1935 for the Lamaque Gold Mines company.

It seems this is one of the mines which are also used for underground bicycle races. Since 2000, one stage of the Tour de l'Abitibi, a local junior bicycle stage race, takes place inside the mine.

The first gold deposits were discovered in 1923 in the township of Rouyn. In the early 1930s around the sources of the Harricana River, near Val-d'Or, further gold deposits were found. This place was actually named Val-d'Or (valley of gold) after the discovery. Between 1927 and 1950, the center of mining activities in Quebec moved to Abitibi-Témiscamingue. This region provided more than half of the value of the mineral production of the province. Which is quite a lot, as Canada always strongly depended on its mining industry. Over a period of 25 years, 50,000 people settled in the mining centers of Abitibi-Témiscamingue. The village of Bourlamaque was built in 1935 to serve the Lamaque mine, it was the first town here.

The complete tour of the site takes four hours and includes the underground tour and four surface buildings. If you have less time, you may choose the express tour, which takes two hours and includes the underground tour and a tour of the laboratory. There is an exhibition named Gold in our veins about the lives of the miners and te development of the village. The Mining Village is visited with an audioguide and there are explanatory panels. The mien site has two headframes, we guess that at least one was relocated from another mine. Nevertheless, the mine tunnel is entered down a ramp with a "genuine mining vehicle", which is a rather modern diesel powered truck-like special vehicle. Visitors are equipped with helmet and headlamp, and are advised to wear warm clothes and closed shoes. However, the actually cold part is the ride on the open vehicle, which is freezing, and a warm fleece plus wind protection is much recommended. For the underground tour, without wind and some moving around, you should probably get rid of one or two layers. The guides wear state-of-the-art miners overalls in orange which are tres chique.