Renewal Project Updates: Breaking Ground
We’re thrilled to share that progress continues on our Renewal Project: Phase 2 — the Mine Experience. We’ve been working on this project for a while — so where are we now?
Funding:
We have raised more than $5.2 million towards project costs! Thanks to major funders and sponsors — and more than 150 individual donors from throughout our Rossland community – this project will invest nearly $6 million in the Rossland Museum.
You’re probably well aware that construction costs have risen sharply over the past decade — much faster than the average inflation rate in that time!
Funding by source, August 2025
Despite this, we’ve sourced a variety of funding opportunities to support this community asset — bringing new money into Rossland, investing in a City-owned asset, reducing long-term costs, driving tourism, and expanding community use - all paid for by external grants and generous donations, not pulling from our very limited Rossland tax dollars. That includes support from Canadian Heritage, Employment & Social Development Canada, Teck Metals Ltd., Columbia Basin Trust, and over $2.5 million from the Province of BC.
Now, we’re in the final phase of fundraising. Every gift — from $20 to $200,000 — helps us close that gap and get shovels into the ground.
Progress:
We’ve been working hard with Panther Creative on exhibit design and the Okanagan-based MAD Studio (Meiklejohn Architectural Design) on architecture. Thanks to the collaboration of these partners, our internal team, and our committed volunteers, we have developed an exciting set of plans for the space — and we can’t wait to put them into action!
The project will include the construction of an above-ground mine experience, along with a new atrium, numerous site and accessibility upgrades, and renewed exhibits.
In May, we put out our Request for Proposals for the project. We’re over-the-moon to announce that we have officially selected Trail-based Hil-Tech Contracting Ltd, and we expect to be breaking ground on the project in fall 2026!
Next Steps:
We’ll be breaking ground this fall, 2026, to begin work on the new atrium and invest in updates to the building, including :
accessibility improvements,
modern fire suppression systems,
enhanced water and electrical systems for long-term sustainability, and
site drainage and parking area improvements to meet provincial and municipal codes.
There are still some details that we need to work out. We are still working to finalize the project schedule, which will determine the duration of the construction phase and outline our operations during the process. With that, we don’t know whether we’ll need to get creative to continue offering programs and exhibits during this turbulent period. Additionally, we don’t have an exact date for a grand opening just yet.
We DO know that we will continue to be your community museum before, during, and after this process. And we know that it’s going to be incredible.