HAGERSVILLE — What motorists see from Highway 6 is only the surface of an operation stretching kilometres beneath Haldimand County, where crews extract hundreds of thousands of tons of gypsum each year before turning the mineral into wallboard used across Canada.
The Haldimand Press joined Haldimand County Mayor Shelley Ann Bentley, Haldimand-Norfolk MPP Bobbi Ann Brady, Haldimand-Norfolk MP Leslyn Lewis, and other media members for a tour of CGC’s Hagersville plant and underground mine on August 27, 2026.
Led by Plant Manager Dale Cox and Mine Manager Owen Zerr, the tour followed the production process from the sprawling surface facility underground to one of the mine’s active production areas.
Cox said the Hagersville operation employs about 400 people, with approximately one quarter working underground. He estimated about three-quarters of the workforce lives in Haldimand and Norfolk, with most employees living within about a half-hour drive.
The operation begins with the gypsum beneath the property.
“We’re here because of the gypsum reserves,” Cox said.
CGC currently has about 40 years of acquired reserves, with additional potential deposits available. The mine has gradually expanded horizontally away from the plant, with current production extending east beneath the surrounding countryside.
Each year, crews extract roughly 500,000 to 600,000 tons of gypsum at the site.
Before heading underground, visitors changed into coveralls and safety equipment and were each assigned a tag recording who was in the mine. Zerr reviewed emergency procedures, refuge stations, ventilation, and the self-contained oxygen units carried underground.
Unlike mines that descend thousands of feet, Hagersville’s operation follows a relatively shallow gypsum seam horizontally. Main travel routes can have ceilings nine or 10 feet high, but the active mining areas are considerably tighter.
The gypsum seam itself is roughly three feet thick, with much of the working area having ceilings around five feet high. Reaching the active face meant leaving the personnel carrier and walking bent forward through the lower sections.
Equipment underground is electric, meaning some machines produce little engine noise. Headlamps also become an important communication tool in areas where hearing protection and machinery make conversation difficult.
Production moves through a continuous cycle. Crews drill holes into the rock face, load them with explosives, and blast sections approximately eight feet forward at a time.
The mine operates on day shift, with blasting conducted after workers leave so gases produced by the explosion can be ventilated before employees return the following morning.
The blasted material is collected by specialized loaders, transferred to underground haulers, and taken to a primary crusher. From there, it travels by conveyor kilometres through the mine before reaching the surface.
Visitors watched machinery working at the production face and saw the roof-support system used as mining advances.
Following a blast, loose rock is removed through a process known as scaling before bolts are installed to stabilize the roof. Mine staff also monitor layouts and pillar dimensions to keep the operation within its engineered design.
The underground operation includes its own maintenance shop, electrical facilities, and mechanics because much of the heavy equipment cannot easily be brought to the surface when repairs are required.
“Most of our equipment, once it comes down, usually doesn’t see the light of day again until it’s being scrapped,” said Cox.
Once the gypsum reaches the surface, it undergoes further crushing, preparation, and drying before being pulverized.
The mineral is heated to remove moisture, producing a powdered material known as stucco. Water and other ingredients are later added before the mixture is sandwiched between sheets of paper to form wallboard.
Cox explained that gypsum’s ability to release water when heated contributes to drywall’s fire-resistant properties, making the mineral an important component of building safety.
CGC operates two wallboard lines at the Hagersville plant, including a high-speed line and another producing specialty products. Cox said the faster line can produce enough wallboard in about six minutes for a 2,000-square-foot home.
The facility also produces joint compounds, while other CGC products are brought in from sister operations and combined into shipments destined for building suppliers and construction projects.
Its proximity to the Greater Toronto Area is a significant advantage, Cox said, allowing CGC to quickly serve one of Canada’s largest construction markets.
“I always joked I can put 80,000 pounds of drywall on a doorstep faster than Amazon,” he said.
Lewis said seeing the entire operation gave her a better understanding of both its scale and its role in the local economy.
“It was really great to see just how in-depth the operations are and that we have such a large employer and producer of essential products that we need for our housing sector in our riding,” she said.
Lewis said seeing the process from extraction through production was particularly informative.
“It was fascinating to see exactly how it’s extracted … and also just the entire chain of supply,” Lewis said. “It’s fascinating to see how everybody works together.”
Brady said the size and complexity of the operation would likely surprise many people who routinely pass it.
“I think there’s a lot of people who probably drive by CGC every single day, or multiple times a day, and have zero idea of what is actually going on here,” she said.
Brady highlighted the number of long-serving and multi-generational employees she met during the tour.
“This is a facility that we can be very proud of in Haldimand County,” she said, adding governments should support policies that support operations such as CGC, which in turn supports local employment.
Bentley similarly pointed to the connection between the mine, manufacturing operation, and local workforce.
“What a fantastic tour,” Bentley said. “It really was interesting to watch how the product comes out, how it’s mined, and how it comes up to the floor to make gypsum and wallboards.”
She said travelling underground and watching the mining process firsthand was her favourite part of the visit.
“I just thought, ‘This is so cool,’” Bentley said.
For Cox, who began at the Hagersville facility as a high school co-op student before eventually returning as plant manager in 2019, the operation’s long-serving workforce is part of its identity.
He said recognition displays inside the plant include employees with 40 and 45 years of service: “We have a lot of people that have started here kind of right out of school and have worked their way through.”
