Garco Construction Inc., of Spokane, has landed a $4.5 million contract to erect five buildings at a new gold mine in Alaska.


The new mining operation, called the Pogo Mine, will located near Delta Junction, which is about 90 miles southeast of Fairbanks. Pogo Joint Venture, in which Vancouver, B.C.-based mining company Teck Cominco Ltd. is involved, is developing the mine.


Dick Pyle, a project manager at Garco, says the company plans to begin putting up the pre-engineered metal buildings in August and expects to complete them by year-end.


Garco plans to send supervisors and foremen to Alaska for the project, but will hire workers from union halls in Alaska.


The buildings include a 40,000-square-foot mill building, three connected buildings for backfill and tailings storage that will have a total of 23,000 square feet of floor space, and an 8,400-square-foot water-treatment facility.


Garco Building Systems, a separately-owned, Spokane-based metal-building maker, is fabricating the structures.


The mill building will be 400 feet long and will house two large bridge cranes, the larger of which will be able to lift up to 30 tons. That building will be 70 feet tall in some places, Pyle says.


The building complex that will house backfill and tailings-storage operations will vary widely in height and also will reach 70 feet tall in certain sections.


The water-treatment facility will be substantially smaller than those structures.


The Pogo Mine is an underground mine that is projected to produce 350,000 to 500,000 ounces of gold a year over a 10-year mine life. Initial gold production is scheduled for March 2006.


Garco is no stranger to mine construction. The company has completed several projects at Comincos Red Dog Mine, in northeastern Alaska, as well as other jobs at mines in Alaska and in northeastern Russia.